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THE  EDGE  OF 
THE  QUICKSANDS 


BY 

D.  THOMAS  CURTIN 

Author  of  "The  Land  of 
Deepening  Shadow,"  etc. 


NEW  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1918, 
By  George  H.  Doran  Company 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


TO 

MY  MOTHER 


2126591 


CONTENTS 

CHAFTEB  FAGB 

I  A  Thousand  Differences    .     .     .   '.     .  11 

II  How  THE  Germans  Are  Governed       .     .  33 

III  The  Phonograph  Man     ......  61 

IV  Smoke  Clouds  of  Democracy    ....  81 
V  The  Wilson  Wedge 109 

VI  The  Secret  of  German  Resistance     .     .  143 

VII  The  Decisive  Weapon 174 

VIII  The  Invisible  Army >r .  192 

IX  Our  Prisoner  Extraordinary  .'.,-/.     .  217 

X  Footlight  Warfare   .     .     .     .     .     .     .  232 

XI  A  Dusty  Volume  IN  Berlin       .     .  .^.     .  243 

XII  The  Mothers  Across  THE  Sea  .     .     .  '  .  252 

XIII  The  Dug-outless  Front       .     ,     .     .     .  268 

XIV  The  Frightfulness  Moon    ......  277 

XV  Thou  Shalt  Kill .  295 

XVI  The  Quicksands   .     .     .    ,•    ^    n    ,   ^.  310 


THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 


THE  EDGE 
OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 


CHAPTEK  I 


A  THOUSAND  DIFFEEEISTCES 


A  YEAR  after  that  memorable  first  of  February, 
1917,  when  Germany  unfurled  the  black  flag  of 
piracy  in  the  face  of  the  world,  I  was  talking  with 
a  group  of  American  soldiers  at  Bar-le-Duc. 

I  had  just  come  back  from  Verdun  and  was  telling 
them  what  I  had  seen  in  Germany  nearly  two  years 
before  when  the  crushing  pincers  pressed  through 
Douaumont,  Yaux,  Thiaumont,  Fleury  and  Dead  Man's 
Hill ;  when  once  again,  after  the  depression  due  to  po- 
sition-warfare and  food  shortage,  I  had  heard  the  Ger- 
mans talk  boastingly  of  smashing  victory  and  indem- 
nities. Social  Democrats  had  again  forgotten  their  pro- 
fession in  the  prospects  of  sweeping  German  victories 
and  the  indemnities  that  would  keep  down  taxes. 

I  was  delighted  with  the  interest  the  American  sol- 
diers showed  in  everything  German.  Although  much 
of  our  talk  was  of  the  light  and  bantering  sort,  these 
lads  asked  me  questions  concerning  German  ideas, 
politics  and  customs  which  showed  how  different  one 
more  declaration  of  war  had  made  European  affairs  to 
a  nation  of  more  than  a  hundred  million  people. 

U 


12    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

We  stopped  talking  when  a  group  of  three  oflScer 
prisoners  passed  to  the  railroad  station  under  guard. 
One  of  the  three  was  conspicuously  taller  than  his  com- 
panions; yet  it  was  not  his  height  which  held  the  at- 
tention of  the  boys  from  the  States  but  the  gashes 
criss-crossed  on  his  cheek. 

"That  fellow  has  been  chopped  up  some  in  this  lit- 
tle war !"  said  a  private  named  Schultz. 

"Possibly,"  I  said,  "but  what  do  you  see  about  him 
that  makes  you  think  so  ?" 

"See  about  him,"  cried  Schultz.  "Say,  fellows,  did 
you  see  that  face  ?" 

They  did.  Whereupon  I  felt  it  incumbent  upon 
myself  to  inject  a  few  explanations  concerning  German 
social  customs.  "He  did  not  acquire  those  scars  in  this 
war  or  in  any  other  war,"  I  began. 

"How  remarkable!"  breathed  Schultz,  with  affected 
gravity.  "All  right,  I'll  be  the  Doctor  Watson  in  the 
story.  Would  you  be  so  good,  my  dear  Holmes,  as  to 
explain  your  astounding  deductions  ?  |If  he  did  not  get 
the  scars  in  war,  he  probably  got  them  at  a  little  card 
party,  I  sup{)ose  ?" 

"He  did  not,"  I  explained.  "Those  scars  are  duel- 
ling mementos  that  many  German  students  take  lov- 
ingly from  their  universities.  I  have  seen  students 
put  salt  and  vinegar  and  other  irritants  into  facial 
wounds  in  order  to  make  them  endure  more  vividly." 

Schultz  looked  mystified.    So  did  the  others. 

"I  have  seen  fellows  back  home,"  he  said,  "put  a 
beaf  steak  poultice  over  a  closing  eye  or  pair  of  same 
to  make  these  little  souvenirs  of  a  scrap  less  conspicu- 
ous. The  Germans  seem  to  have  a  different  idea  about 
some  things." 


A  THOUSAND  DIFFERENCES         13 

"About  many  things,"  I  said.  "There  are  a  thousand 
differences  between  Germany  and  the  United  States. 
That  is  why  the  Germans  do  not  understand  the  Amer- 
icans and  the  Americans  do  not  understand  them. 
There  have  been  various  kinds  of  wars  throughout  his- 
tory. This  is  a  war  of  ideas,  of  systems,  and  not  a  war 
of  religion  or  of  races  or  of  blood."  (Private  Schultz 
looked  at  me  gratefully  for  this  last,  inasmuch  as  the 
full-blooded  American,  Private  O'Brien,  had  been  ban- 
tering him  with  such  remarks  as  that  a  belt  with  Gott 
mit  uns  would  be  more  in  harmony  with  his  name  than 
buttons  with  the  American  eagle.) 

"Now,  speaking  about  national  differences,"  I  con- 
tinued, "take  that  detail  in  the  unrestricted  U-boat  dec- 
laration in  which  the  Imperial  Government  calmly  in- 
structed our  State  Department  that  we  could  sail  a  boat 
to  Falmouth  once  a  week  and  a  boat  from  Falmouth 
with  the  same  frequency,  such  boats  to  be  painted  in  a 
manner  suggestive  of  Barnum  and  Bailey  floats.  The 
ultimatum  to  Serbia  was  an  olive-branch  compared 
with  that  affront.  Had  the  German  universities  of- 
fered an  'America  insult  prize'  they  could  have  evolved 
no  greater  slap  in  the  face.  iN'o  insult  was  intended, 
however.  Official  Germany  has  developed  the  habit — 
sufficiently  safe  at  home — of  ordering,  and  is  puzzled 
why  other  peoples  should  refuse  to  obey.  Do  not  the 
German  people  obey  German  official  orders,  and  are  not 
the  German  people  the  'salt  of  the  earth'  ? — as  the 
Kaiser  himself  admits. 

"lN"ow,  the  most  interesting  and  painful  thing  about 
the  matter  is  that  the  German  people  consider  the 
United  States  quarrelsome  and  war-picking  because 
we  did  not  accept  the  generous  offer  of  their  govern- 


14    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

ment  I  say  'generous  offer'  because  that  is  the  expres- 
sion they  use,  just  as  they  used  it  on  a  former  occasion 
when  Washington  was  informed  that  Americans  could 
travel  on  four  designated  ships.  ISTow,  this  generous 
attitude'  sentiment  of  the  German  people  may  seem  a 
trifling  thing,  but  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance.  When 
a  government  so  conducts  itself  that  it  antagonises  all 
the  free  peoples  of  the  earth,  but  continues  to  win  the 
approval  of  its  own  well  disciplined  millions,  who  re- 
gard its  slightest  'concessions'  to  other  nations  as  'gen- 
erous' the  world  has  almost  unlimited  opportunities  for 
bloodshed  and  misery." 

The  boys  agreed. 

"But  how  about  that  fellow  with  the  gashes?"  asked 
Schultz.  "You  were  telling  us  about  putting  salt  into 
their  duelling  wounds  to  make  them  show  up  better." 

"Yes,"  I  continued,  "and  they  keep  their  hair  closely 
cropped  if  they  are  fortunate  enough  to  have  any  scalp 
gashes.  You  see,  social  lines  are  very  strictly  drawn 
in  the  Fatherland,  and  snobbery  is  abundant.  Now, 
the  crux  of  the  matter  is,  that  the  only  Germans  who 
indulge  in  duelling  are  the  students  of  fashionable  corps 
at  the  universities.  Consequently,  when  a  man  goes 
through  life  with  these  external  marks  of  higher  educa- 
tion upon  his  brow,  he  is  looked  up  to  by  the  great 
mass  of  his  fellow  countrymen." 

"But  don't  these  marks  show  that  he  was  not  skil- 
ful enough  to  keep  the  other  fellow's  blows  off  ?"  asked 
Schultz,  with  American  analysis. 

"(In  this  case,  my  dear  Watson,  your  deductions  are 
surprisingly  correct — to  a  point.  But  what  you  do  not 
deduce  is  the  psychological  fact  that  cultured  Germans 
are  eager  to  proclaim  to  the  world  that  they  were  not 


A  THOUSAND  DIFFERENCES  15 

skilful  enough  to  prevent  an  opposing  swordsman  get- 
ting througli  their  guard  if  by  so  doing  they  can  show 
their  higher  rung  in  the  social  ladder.  As  members  of 
fashionable  duelling  corps  they  reach  a  very  high 
rung." 

But  Schultz  was  shaking  his  head.  He  was  deeply 
interested  and  trying  to  understand,  but  he  simply 
could  not  fathom  this  particular  German  peculiarity. 

"Funny,"  he  concluded.  "When  we  get  into  a  fight, 
we  like  to  leave  all  the  marks  on  the  other  fellow !" 

A  simple  anecdote,  but  one  which  shows  a  difference 
in  American  and  German  points  of  view.  If  we  were 
to  explore  back  into  Private  Schultz's  ancestry,  we 
should  undoubtedly  find  a  German  or  partial  German 
origin.  But  he  thinks  American,  and  he  talks  Amer- 
ican. He  is  American.  The  people  of  European  coun- 
tries impressed  me  during  the  war  that  in  general 
they  do  not  realise  the  chemicalisation  which  goes  on 
from  generation  to  generation  in  the  United  States, 
which  gives  a  distinct  and  typical  standard  of  nation- 
ality to  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  population. 
Had  Private  Schultz's  ancestry  remained  in  the  Father- 
land, he  might  be  in  flesh  and  blood  quite  the  same  as 
he  is  to-day,  but  his  whole  personality,  his  ideas,  his  ut- 
terances, would  be  of  an  entirely  different  order.  If 
there  arose  an  opportunity  such  as  that  of  Bar-le-Duc 
to  discuss  some  psychological  trait  of  the  opposing  side, 
he  would,  as  a  German  soldier,  do  it  in  a  philosophi- 
cally serious  manner.  As  an  American,  the  lighter  vein, 
with  its  Holmes  and  Watson  interpolations,  has  become 
Schultz's  dominant  tone  because  his  ancestors  left  Ger- 
man iron-clad  regulations  for  the  far-spread  horizons 
of  the  Western  World. 


i6    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

In  Germany,  as  the  U-boat  crisis  with  America 
neared  the  breaking  point,  I  used  to  be  solemnly  as- 
sured by  all  classes  that  my  country  would  be  im- 
potent in  a  war  against  Germany  because  we  ourselves 
would  be  plunged  into  civil  war.  To  prove  this  asser- 
tion they  would  tell  me  that  there  were  eighteen  million 
Germans  in  the  United  States,  all  of  whom,  according 
to  masterful  Teutonic  diagnosis,  would  be  with  the 
Fatherland.  The  assumption  that  all  Germans  who 
had  gone  to  the  United  States  and  their  descendants 
would  continue  loyal  to  the  land  which  the  emigrants 
had  left  because  they  were  dissatisfied  with  it  was  a 
more  gratifying  assumption  for  Potsdam  than  a  logical 
one. 

The  Germans  have  an  obsession  for  grouping  and 
arranging  the  elements  which  comprise  the  universe — 
in  fact,  cataloguing  is  a  national  pastime.  In  a  later 
chapter  I  will  show  how  they  catalogued  prisoners  of 
war,  particularly  the  various  elements  that  comprise 
Russia,  and  the  practical  uses  to  which  they  put  this 
cataloguing. 

Before  we  came  into  the  war  they  were  doing  some 
interesting  cataloguing  in  the  United  States,  some  of  it 
along  the  perfectly  thorough,  if  somewhat  crude  lines, 
of  plodding  their  way  through  city  directories  to  check 
off  for  the  Kaiser  every  name  with  a  German  flavour. 
A  rather  simple  method  of  transfer  of  some  of  our 
countrymen  such  as  Charles  Schwab  who  is  increasing 
shipping  to  counter  Germany's  one  great  chance  to  win 
decisively,  and  Edward  Rickenbacher  of  Columbus, 
Ohio,  whose  favourite  recreation  is  knocking  down  Ger- 
man airplanes. 

The  Germans,  however,  encouraged  themselves  to  the 


A  THOUSAND  DIFFERENCES         17 

further  extent  of  estimating  the  total  number  of  Amer- 
icans of  Austro-Hungarian  extraction,  overlooking  for 
the  sake  of  statistics  the  otherwise  obvious  fact  that  the 
freed  descendants  and  members  of  such  races  as  the 
Bohemians,  the  Slovaks,  and  the  Croatians  could  hardly 
be  expected  to  support  that  side  in  the  struggle  which 
kept  Bohemia,  Slovakia  and  Croatia  "loyal"  through 
the  efficacious,  if  not  endearing  and  persuasive,  powers 
of  the  military  and  the  police. 

And  Ireland!  How  the  Germans  did  rub  their 
hands  gleefully  when  they  talked  to  me  of  Ireland. 
"Just  think,"  I  heard  them  cry  jubilantly  or  sneer- 
ingly,  "to  all  of  our  loyal  Germans  and  Hungarians  we 
can  add  the  fifteen  million  Irish  in  America."  Truly, 
I  had  reason  to  be  alarmed  in  Germany.  If  the  Swedes 
in  the  United  States  would  only  stay  neutral,  I  felt, 
what  a  glorious  civil  war  between  the  Kaiser's  forces  as 
catalogued  above  and  the  Allied  Americans!  Was 
there  no  such  person  as  an  American-American? — I 
used  to  wonder. 

It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  see  much  of  both 
sides,  for  since  the  beginning  of  the  war  I  have  made 
five  journeys  into  the  Central  Empires  and  six  journeys 
out  of  them.  Emerging  from  the  blackness  of  a  coal- 
mine shaft  to  the  dazzling  shimmer  of  sunlight  and 
blue  sky,  is  a  comparatively  mild  sensation  compared 
with  the  feelings  aroused  when  I  changed  rapidly  from 
the  observation  of  the  activities  of  one  side  to  those  of 
the  other. 

People  are  affected  by  their  environment  to  varying 
degrees,  but  all  to  some  degree.  War  accentuates,  and 
when  I  was  with  the  Austrians  in  their  first  campaign 
against  the  Serbs,   I   involuntarily  began  to  see  the 


i8    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Serbs  not  as  they  really  were  but  through  the  eyes  of 
their  AustroHungarian  enemies.  Therefore,  their 
similarity  to  and  their  contrast  with  the  picture  paint- 
ed for  me  stood  out  jaggedly  clear  when  J.  later  joined 
them. 

So,  too,  from  the  German  army  against  the  Eussian, 
to  the  Russian  army  against  the  German.  On  one  side 
of  the  Eastern  battle  front,  my  environment  made  one 
picture  the  Cossacks  as  beasts  devoid  of  all  human 
feelings.  Indeed,  while  I  was  with  the  German  troops, 
I  learned  that  they  were  under  orders  to  take  as  many 
Kussian  prisoners  as  possible,  with  the  single  excep- 
tion that  no  quarter  was  to  be  given  the  Cossacks. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Eastern  front  a  fellow-jour- 
nalist and  I  once  dashed  across  the  Koumanian-Bucovin- 
ian  frontier,  between  the  retreating  Russians  and  the 
advancing  Austro-Germans,  where  I  had  a  distinct  and 
ineffaceable  impression  of  the  first  rear  'guard  Cossacks 
headed  toward  us — an  impression  which  crystallised 
into  an  ejaculation:  "Thank  God,  Dunn,  that  you  put 
your  money  in  your  shoe."  Yet  we  chummed  with  the 
Cossacks  for  days  during  their  retreat,  eating  with 
them,  sharing  their  rough  sleeping  quarters,  borrowing 
smokes,  and  lending  matches.  To  be  sure,  they  did 
not  impress  me  as  men  who  liked  to  spend  their  spare 
time  frequenting  public  libraries;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  I  feel  that  I  understand  them  immeasurably  bet- 
ter than  if  all  my  opinions  of  them  bore  a  made-in-Ger- 
many  label. 

So,  too,  the  mingled  elated  and  dazed  sensation 
when,  after  seeing  khaki  and  French  blue  for  months, 
I  found  myseK  once  more  among  spiked  helmets  in 
the  twisting  streets  in  the  fortress  city  of  Cologne;  or 


A  THOUSAND  DIFFERENCES         19 

again,  "when  shifting  after  a  few  days  in  the  autumn 
of  1916,  from  the  broad,  straight,  brightly-lighted 
streets  of  the  German  capital  to  Britain's  capital  in 
which  I  arrived  after  night  had  fallen. 

My  mind  had  been  fired  by  German  descriptions  of 
the  great  metropolis  on  the  Thames.  To  be  sure,  I  had 
left  a  darkened  London  more  than  a  year  before,  but  not 
a  blackened  city  such  as  this.  The  London  I  left  had 
dim  street  lights,  but  now,  as  I  was  driven  through  the 
narrow,  crooked  thoroughfares  bordered  by  the  shadowy 
outlines  of  houses  over  whose  windows  were  drawn 
heavy  blinds,  a  fringe  of  light  in  an  occasional  window 
where  the  curtains  did  not  fit  tightly  seemed,  by  con- 
trast, some  world  of  Arabian  I^ights.  I  fell  to  won- 
dering what  kind  of  life  was  inside  those  dimmed,  mis- 
shapen masses  bulking  so  weirdly  about  me.  The  streets 
did  not  seem  part  of  London ;  the  real  London,  the  liv- 
ing thing,  appeared  to  be  caged  up  inside  where  the 
lights  were.  I  thought  the  taxi  driver  who  whisked  me 
safely  to  the  Strand  the  most  wonderful  man  in  the 
world. 

During  months  of  life  in  London,  I  grew  rapidly 
accustomed  to  the  change.  The  impressions  of  that 
first  night  are  valuable,  as  are  all  first  impressions,  in 
that  when  they  are  analysed  they  are  indicators  of  con- 
trast. 

Another  tremendous  change,  along  the  same  line,  was 
my  first  night  back  in  New  York  in  the  spring  of  1918. 
When  I  walked  down  Broadway,  not  the  brightly- 
lighted  streets  of  Berlin,  but  the  dark  ones  of  London 
and  Paris  had  become  the  standard  with  which  I  com- 
pared them.    I  had  lost  the  realisation  that  streets  could 


20    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

be  lighted  well  enough  to  enable  one  to  see  the  expres- 
sions upon  the  faces  of  passers-by. 

In  l^ew  York,  however,  J.  found  myself  marvelling 
that  I  could  see  even  the  colours  of  the  eyes  of  the 
passers-by.  In  London  a  small  pocket  electric  torch 
flashes  like  a  searchlight,  but  on  Broadway  one  would 
not  notice  its  rays  because  of  the  glare.  All  this  tran- 
sition from  one  country  to  another,  this  studying  them 
under  conditions  of  war,  sharpens  the  observation  and 
tends  to  balance  the  judgment  on  the  war  and  its  out- 
come. 

One  day,  while  I  was  sitting  on  one  of  the  neat 
flower-bordered  balconies  which  characterise  the  apart- 
ment city  of  Berlin,  I  watched  some  children  playing 
in  the  street  with  a  ball  and  stick  during  that  abbre- 
viated free  time  allowed  them  between  their  studying 
and  their  extra  home  and  state  work.  I  began  to  com- 
pare them  in  their  play  with  American  children  of  the 
same  age  in  theirs.  The  game  resembled  back-yard 
baseball  minus  that  "indefinable  something"  that  makes 
baseball  atmosphere.  Among  other  things,  they  went 
through  their  play  without  that  individuality  that  one 
would  find  in  America.  They  stopped  the  game  for  a 
time  to  watch  an  organised  group  of  school  children, 
headed  by  Herr  Lehrer,  marching  toward  the  Grune- 
wald  to  indulge  in  some  nature  study.  The  marchers' 
ages  ranged  from  eight  to  eleven,  and  they  moved 
along  in  military  column  of  fours,  singing  "In  der 
Heimat"  and  the  inevitable  "Deutschland,  Deutsch- 
land  iiber  alles."  Among  other  things,  the  Herr  Lehrer 
would  instruct  them  just  how  to  gather  berries  most 
scientifically  and  in  a  manner  least  likely  to  damage 
the  bushes.     This  is  part  of  the  "war  work"  set  aside 


A  THOUSAND  DIFFERENCES         21 

for  them  by  their  paternal  goveminent.  This  little 
scene  caused  me  to  continue  my  reflections  upon  the 
traits  of  nations. 

I  used  to  feel  that  the  telegraph,  the  post,  the  rail- 
way, the  steamboat  and  the  automobile  sandpapered 
down  the  contours  of  individual  characteristics  which 
differentiate  one  people  from  another.  Despite  the 
ever  decreasing  size  of  our  planet,  however,  certain  fun- 
damental barriers  have  been  growing  higher  between 
various  nations,  particularly  between  the  citizens  of  the 
American  democracy  and  the  subjects  of  the  German 
autocracy.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  soul  of  a  peo- 
ple, and  these  German  children  grow  up  with  quite 
a  different  outlook  upon  the  world  than  do  American 
children  raised  under  a  wholly  different  set  of  condi- 
tions. 

Differences  in  customs  are  always  interesting. 

One  day,  after  a  long  tramp  from  Bethmann-Holl- 
weg's  estate  at  Hohenfinow,  I  took  the  train  at  Dahm&« 
dorf  to  return  to  Berlin. 

Jn  addition  to  an  American  companion,  there  were 
three  others  in  the  compartment  which  would  seat  ten 
in  this  old-fashioned,  non-corridor  train.  At  the  last 
moment,  a  party  of  six  clambered  in — three  men  fol- 
lowed by  their  wives.  They  had  been  strolling  about 
the  pleasant  bit  of  rolling  country  near  Buchow  and 
were  happy  and  tired  at  the  end  of  their  day's  outing. 
The  men  promptly  sank  into  three  of  the  vacant  seats 
with  grunts  and  other  expressions  of  relief.  Unfortu- 
nately, there  were  only  two  seats  for  the  three  women 
who  trailed  after  them,  which  were  taken  by  the  first 
two  to  come  in.  Apparently  the  whole  party  conducted 
itself  upon  the  principle  of  first  come,  first  served. 


22    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Had  this  been  my  first  trip  to  Germany,  I  might  have 
expected  that  the  husband  of  the  standing  woman  had 
merely  rushed  along  to  save  a  seat  for  her.  As  it  was, 
I  somewhat  less  than  half  expected  that  such  was  the 
case.  He,  with  the  others,  expressed  regret  that  there 
were  only  five  seats  for  six  tired  people.  For  about 
half  an  hour  I  sat  comfortably  back  in  the  corner,  inter- 
ested far  less  in  the  flat  scenery  than  in  the  psycho- 
logical phenomenon  of  how  long  the  able-bodied  hus- 
band would  refrain  from  suggesting  to  his  wife  that  she 
might  like  at  least  to  share  his  seat  with  him  in  turn. 
To  my  dismay,  my  impetuous  companion  rudely  in- 
terrupted my  investigation  of  physical  truths  by  rising 
and  offering  the  woman  his  place  in  a  tone  which  min- 
gled forced  politeness  with  anger.  She  accepted  with 
thanks  and  a  look  of  genuine  gratitude,  while  her 
sturdy  husband  raised  his  straw  hat,  and,  settling  back 
even  more  contentedly,  added  his  profuse  thanks. 

I  have  seen  much  of  women  standing  in  America  in 
public  conveyances,  to  be  sure;  but  I  never  expect  to 
see  an  able-bodied  American  husband  sit  by  and  thank 
a  man  who  gives  his  seat  to  his  wife. 

In  this  war,  I  have  felt  how  hermetically  sealed  are 
the  frontiers  enclosing  each  group  of  belligerents,  and 
how  little  the  millions  of  the  one  really  know  of  the 
conditions  pertaining  among  the  millions  of  the  other. 
Profoundly  interesting  and  important  are  the  feel- 
ings which  one  side  ascribes  to  its  adversary  on  certain 
activities  of  the  war,  each  being  prone  to  herald  some 
difficulty  or  new  setback  of  its  enemy  as  producing  a 
condition  that  can  not  be  endured. 

For  example,  in  1916,  during  the  battle  of  the 
Somme,  I  was  sitting  in  the  back  room  of  a  Berlin 


A  THOUSAND  DIFFERENCES         23 

"Weinsiube,  where  several  of  us  journalists  had  learned 
to  congregate  because  we  somehow  mysteriously  under- 
stood that  in  this  particular  eating  establishment  we 
could  get  meat  without  meat  tickets, — even  on  the  two 
meatless  days  a  week.  The  German  citizens  who  pat- 
ronised the  place  had  no  such  privilege.  The  reason 
that  we  Americans  had  it  was  not  because  the  pro- 
prietor or  the  Wilhelmstrasse  looked  upon  us  as  jolly 
good  fellows,  but  because  the  proprietor  and  the  Wil- 
helmstrasse connived  to  permit  us  to  violate  the  iron- 
clad food  regulations  of  Berlin  in  order  that  we  might 
feel  the  happier  in  the  Fatherland  and  reflect  this  hap- 
piness as  Germany's  happiness  to  our  readers  across  the 
seas.  Yet  this  was  only  part  of  the  reason,  for  we 
soon  had  excellent  grounds  to  believe  that  the  meat  was 
but  bait  to  lure  us  into  a  dictaphone  trap.  The  partic- 
ular day  of  which  I  speak  was  a  meatless  day,  which, 
in  our  case,  as  five  of  us  sat  about  the  table,  simply 
meant  that  there  had  to  be  a  camouflage  of  egg  over 
our  meat  so  that  the  Gottstrafers  of  England  and  Amer- 
ica at  neighbouring  tables  would  not  be  aware  of  our 
unheard  of  privileges. 

One  of  our  number  was  possessed  of  a  copy  of  the 
London  Times  into  which  he  buried  himself.  Finally 
he  glanced  up.  "My  God,  men,  just  look  at  those 
losses !" 

A  German  at  a  neighbouring  table,  who  understood 
English,  came  over  at  this  remark,  looked  at  the  Times, 
and  then  beckoned  to  his  companions,  who  also  joined 
us.  The  first  German  ran  his  finger  slowly  down  one 
column  of  finely  printed  losses,  then  down  another  un- 
til he  had  crossed  the  page  of  seven  columns ;  then  over 
on  the  next  page  and  down  more  columns.    "The  Eng- 


24    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

lish  cannot  stand  that/'  he  said,  "or  in  any  event,  they 
will  not  be  willing  to  stand  that.  When  the  English 
people  grasp  fully  the  meaning  of  these  huge  casualties 
which  they  are  suffering  on  the  Somme,  they  will  refuse 
to  make  further  sacrifices  and  the  end  of  the  war  will 
be  in  sight." 

Another  back  room,  this  one  in  a  venerable  restau- 
rant on  Eleet  Street  in  London  where  a  group  of  Eng- 
lishmen of  activities  as  diverse  as  those  in  Addison's 
Spectator  Club,  are  accustomed  to  sit  down  to  a 
luncheon  that  suggests  the  eighteenth  century!  In 
June,  1917,  ten  months  after  the  little  back-room  scene 
in  Berlin,  I  sat  among  these  genial  conversationalists, 
men  exceptionally  well  informed  in  all  that  pertains  to 
English  history  and  life, — fair-minded  men,  quietly  de- 
termined that  Germany  be  defeated,  but  not  given  to 
the  use  of  invectives  against  her.  They  were  discussing 
the  great  news  of  the  week,  the  explosion  of  the  big- 
gest mine  of  the  war  on  Messines  Ridge. 

"I  feel  confident,"  said  one,  "now  that  we  have  taken 
Vimy  Ridge,  that  Messines  is  the  beginning  of  the 
end  and  the  war  will  be  over  this  summer.  Think  of 
the  terror  which  those  explosions  must  have  inspired! 
Certainly  the  German  soldiers  will  be  unwilling  to  con- 
tinue to  fight  when  the  full  realisation  of  the  truth  of 
Messines  dawns  upon  them.  Then  they  will  be  sincere 
in  talking  of  a  real  peace." 

The  others  agreed. 

I  tried  to  express  the  opinion,  however,  that  al- 
though Messines  had  been  a  very  terrible  thing  for 
those  Germans  who  happened  to  be  occupying  the 
ground  blown  up  or  near  it,  that,  after  all,  only  a 
slight  part  of  the  German  army  had  any  first-hand 


A  THOUSAND  DIFFERENCES         25 

knowledge  of  the  explosion,  and  therefore  Germany  aa 
a  whole  would  be  no  more  affected  by  it  than  she  would 
be,  or  the  Allies  would  be,  by  innumerable  other  un- 
pleasant features  of  the  war. 

Of  particular  interest  I  have  found  the  varied  ideas 
in  Europe  of  America  during  the  war.  I  came  upon 
some  in  an  out-of-the-way  manner  in  the  very  first  days 
when  I  was  seeking  to  make  a  circuit  from  Budapest  to 
the  Austro-Serbian  front  through  Hungary's  most  east- 
ern province  of  Siebenbiirgen,  a  rough,  picturesque 
country  whose  Szeckler  peasants  lay  claim  to  descent 
from  the  original  Huns. 

In  one  of  the  little  villages,  half  Hungarian  and  half 
subjugated  Roumanian,  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
village  school  master,  he  being  of  the  latter  race. 

During  supper,  he  told  me  how  he  longed  to  be  able 
to  travel  but  that  he  had  been  only  as  far  as  Budapest. 
He  asked  me  many  questions  about  America — l!^iagara 
Falk  being  of  especial  interest  to  him.  He  spoke  of  his 
booKS,  being  most  proud  of  the  fact  that  he  had  two  re- 
lating to  my  country.  Supper  over,  he  showed  me  these 
as  we  sat  in  the  garden  where  the  gentle  breezes  of 
evening  mingled  the  fragrance  of  the  hay  fields  and  the 
flowers.  )I  began  to  grow  interested  when  I  saw  that  the 
illustrations  were  mainly  of  rough  mountain  trails  and 
rocky  coasts,  with  fishing  villages,  polar-bear-seaside-re- 
sorts, and  Indians  dancing  about  camp  fires. 

"I  suppose  you  have  seen  much  of  this  dancing  in 
America,"  he  observed. 

I  might  have  told  him  that  since  1910  it  had  been 
growing  very  popular  in  New  York  and  other  terpsi- 
chorean  centres,  but  I  did  not  wish  to  confuse  him. 

"Sometimes,  in  my  classes,"  he  explained,  "I  have 


26    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

occasion  to  refer  to  Africa  and  America,  and  I  find 
tliat  these  books  will  give  my  pupils  some  ideas  about 
your  country." 

I  mentally  agreed  that  they  certainly  would  give  them 
some  ideas. 

Of  course,  this  is  a  rather  unusual  case.  But  did  the 
members  of  the  German  government  really  understand 
us  ?    Do  they  understand  us  now  ? 

They  comforted  themselves  with  their  catalogues, 
their  thoughts  of  civil  war,  and  a  money-mad  populace 
willing  to  pay  any  price  for  peace. 

"What  would  you  do?"  I  was  repeatedly  and  inso- 
lently asked  in  Germany.  "You  are  not  soldiers;  you 
have  no  army."  Little  wonder  that  I  found  more  than 
ninety  per  cent  of  the  Kaiser's  subjects  wildly  clamour- 
ing for  unrestricted  TJ-boat  warfare  and  utterly  con- 
temptuous of  anything  that  the  United  States  could 
do  should  she  come  into  the  war. 

Jn  September,  1916,  Herr  Stresemann,  the  Great 
Industrialist  member  of  the  Reichstag,  famous  for  his 
philippics  against  America,  stopped  me  on  Unter  den 
Linden  with  the  remark,  "Do  you  think  that  your  coun- 
try will  break  with  us  if  we  use  the  submarine  to  its 
fullest  capacity  ?" 

"I  am  absolutely  certain  of  it,"  I  said. 

"Well,  we're  going  to  do  it,  none  the  less,"  he  de- 
clared, emphatically.  "After  all,  what  can  the  United 
States  do  in  this  war  ?  You  are  making  munitions  now 
for  our  enemies  because  of  financial  gain,  and  there's 
nothing  more  that  you  can  do.  You  are  not  a  nation  in 
the  German  sense.  You  have  a  vast  extent  of  country, 
to  be  sure,  and  numbering  population  as  one  would  cat- 
tle, you  have  more  than  we.    But  what  a  population! 


A  THOUSAND  DIFFERENCES         ^^ 

I  will  tell  you  what  your  country  is:  America  is  a 
continent  of  jelly,  full  of  indissolvhle  lumps  of  for- 
eigners.'* 

After  three  and  one-half  years  in  warring  Europe,  I 
have  returned  to  my  own  country  for  a  brief  visit.  A? 
I  travel  about  during  a  definite  transition  phase  of  our 
history,  when,  after  a  year  of  preparation,  during  which 
we  seemed  to  have  only  one  foot  in  the  war,  we  are  now 
keenly  awakening  to  the  truth  that  this  is  our  war,  I 
see  the  rising  tide  against  everything  savouring  of 
Prussianism,  and  with  it  a  growing  desire  to  mobilise 
all  our  resources  to  win  the  war. 

I  used  to  hear  the  Germans  scoff  that  we  selfishly 
thought  only  of  individual  money-making — an  opin- 
ion existing  in  many  other  countries.  Yet,  I  now  see  the 
growing  spirit  of  sacrifice  for  an  ideal  among  the  ma- 
jority of  Americans  equal  to  anything  I  have  seen  in 
Europe  during  the  war.  Above  all,  I  see  the  real  soul 
of  a  unified  America  growing  out  of  the  deadly  can- 
cers which  fed  on  a  long-continued  impossible  neu- 
trality. 

Every  day  I  witness  scenes  which  impress  upon 
me  afresh  the  absurdity  of  those  remarks  dinned  into 
my  ears  in  the  Land  of  the  Kaiser.  Some  races  can 
be  kicked  into  submission;  others  can  be  kicked  into  a 
fight.  We  rank  very  high  among  the  latter.  Clearly 
the  Germans,  although  they  had  unlimited  access  to 
information  about  our  country,  were  entirely  wrong 
in  their  deductions,  principally  psychological,  from  such 
information.  Have  America  and  her  Allies  been  more 
correct  in  their  opinions  of  Germany? 

Is  there  not  a  tendency  among  all  peoples  to  form 


28    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

their  judgment  of  other  peoples  upon  institutions  whicli 
they  know  ? 

Once  in  early  springtime  I  was  talking  with  a  na- 
tive among  the  hills  of  Wales  that  rise  above  the  Wye, 
and  I  commented  upon  the  colour-harmony  of  the  very 
red  soil  with  the  greenery.  He  saw  nothing  unusual 
about  it.  When  I  enlarged  upon  the  point,  he  said, 
"Why,  it  is  simply  ploughed  land." 

"I  know,"  I  went  on,  "but  it's  the  colour  of  which  I 
speak." 

"Why,"  he  exclaimed,  "jl  thought  that  all  ploughed 
land  was  red." 

He  certainly  did  think  so;  but  despite  his  belief, 
there  is  white  soil  on  the  chalk-downs  of  Surrey  and 
Kent  and  very  black  soil  in  Missouri.  Because  this 
countryman  believed  all  soil  red  does  not  harm  him  nor 
the  world  in  the  least;  but  if  statesmen,  particularly 
those  of  democracies,  fail  to  differentiate  certain  dis- 
tinctions between  their  own  and  other  countries  they 
might  cause  their  country  almost  unlimited  bloodshed 
and  even  destruction. 

Most  citizens  of  any  nation  are  engaged  in  some  kind 
of  business  which  occupies  the  bulk  of  their  atten- 
tion. Some  people  hold  the  opinion  that  statesman- 
ship should  be  a  business  in  the  sense  that  leaders  of 
the  nations  whose  annihilation  Germany  was  plotting 
should  have  been  aware  of  the  danger  and  taken  pains 
to  acquaint  their  people  with  it.  It  should  be  borne  in 
mind,  however,  that  one  of  the  difficulties  of  such  an 
open  course  is  that  when  a  statesman  in  a  peaceful 
land  warns  of  a  threatening  war,  he  is  considered  a 
jingo  with  a  chip  on  his  shoulder. 

I  have  often  heard  remarked  in  America  how  Ger- 


A  THOUSAND  DIFFERENCES         29 

many  fooled  the  whole  world  about  her  intention  to 
make  war.  It  certainly  is  our  own  fault  and  that  of 
all  the  Allied  countries  if  we  have  been  fooled.  The 
Germans  were  most  open  in  their  talk  of  war. 

Before  the  war  I  used  to  be  profoundly  impressed 
with  the  differences  in  conversation  of  American  school 
and  university  students  and  those  of  Germany.  I  left 
lads  talking  about  athletic  games,  major-league  baseball 
standings  and  the  professional  and  business  careers  they 
contemplated,  to  live  among  school  boys  of  sixteen  to 
eighteen  and  university  students  somewhat  older  who 
talked  about  menaces  to  Germany  and  the  wars  she 
would  fight. 

I  remember  a  youngster  of  eleven  at  one  of  my  Ber- 
lin boarding-houses — a  youngster  typifying  the  youth 
of  Germany — who  used  to  come  home  from  his  school 
and  in  heroic  pose  strike  his  chest,  while  his  eyes 
gleamed,  as  he  cried,  "Franhreich  ist  mein  Feind" 
(France  is  my  enemy.) 

During  the  "Agadir"  crisis  in  1911,  I  was  in  Al- 
sace, where  I  was  very  friendly  with  several  German 
officers  whom  I  knew  and  liked.  I  was  walking  with 
one  of  them  one  afternoon,  just  outside  of  Strassburg, 
when  he  remarked,  ''I  am  sorry  that  I  can  not  go  far- 
ther to-day,  but  we  have  new  war  orders  that  we  must 
never  be  more  than  ten  minutes  away  from  our  horses." 
His  eyes  glowed.  "Ah,"  he  said,  "how  we  long  to 
march  against  France!  We  have  a  far  better  army 
than  had  our  fathers." 

A  few  days  later  I  noted  an  air  of  gloom  settled 
upon  the  garrison.  I  met  my  friend  and  asked  him  the 
reason.  He  looked  sullen  and  disappointed.  "We  are 
told  that  if  we  rush  into  France,  England  will  stand  by 


30    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

her,  and  therefore  we  must  wait — and  prepare,"  he  eoc- 
plained.  But  his  anger  was  rising  at  the  thought  of 
delay.  "Damnation  upon  England,"  he  cried.  "You 
just  see,  we'll  get  our  chance  some  day." 

I  went  to  England,  where  I  tried  to  find  a  war- 
fever  against  Germany.  For  the  English,  however, 
all  soil  was  red.  But  just  because  they  were  not  talk- 
ing and  thinking  about  war,  it  did  not  necessarily 
follow  that  the  Germans  were  not  doing  so.  The  Eng- 
lish were  making  the  perilous  mistake  of  judging  Ger- 
many after  the  standards  of  their  own  environment. 
Had  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs  understood  Ger- 
many, he  might  have  advised  the  Cabinet,  Parliament 
and  the  people;  but  Sir  Edward  Grey,  one  of  the  most 
kindly  men  that  ever  lived,  was  a  high-minded  gentle- 
man who  looked  for  the  good  and  not  the  bad  in  hu- 
manity. Add  to  this  trait  the  fact  that  he  had  never 
been  to  Germany,  he  easily  fell  into  the  error  of  seeing 
that  country  through  the  eyes  of  Prince  Lichnowsky, 
the  German  Ambassador  to  Great  Britain, — he,  too,  a 
man  of  peace  and  a  perfect  gentleman,  and  being  such, 
at  odds  with  Potsdam  and  the  Wilhelmstrasse. 

Thus  Britain,  impatient  with  the  few  voices  crying 
in  the  wilderness,  remained  snugly  unprepared,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  she  has  been  trying  for  four  years 
to  drive  the  Germans  out  of  territory  which  they  occu- 
pied in  very  much  less  than  four  months. 

In  the  autumn  of  1915,  during  the  enemy  smash 
through  Serbia,  a  member  of  the  British  Government 
raised  a  protest  against  a  London  newspaper  because 
that  newspaper  had  printed  an  illuminating  map  of 
Europe  and  Asia  with  guide-posts  marking  German  in- 
tention from  Antwerp  to  the  Persian  Gulf.    The  mem- 


A  THOUSAND  DIFFERENCES         31 

ber  indignantly  called  for  the  suppression  of  the  news- 
paper on  the  ground  that  the  map  showed  the  enemy 
possibilities  of  expansion.  Of  course  it  would  be  a  pity 
to  put  Wanderlust  notions  into  the  heads  of  the  home- 
loving  Germans,  but  isn't  there  something  ludicrous  in 
the  idea  that  a  people  who  had  done  little  more  than 
glance  at  occasional  maps  of  the  near  East  were  hush- 
hushing  the  secret  of  the  possibilities  of  the  region 
which  another  people  had  scientifically  surveyed  ?  Isn't 
there  something  tragic,  too,  in  the  realisation  that  the 
lives  of  men  and  the  destiny  of  nations  are  some- 
times entrusted  to  such  officialdom? 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  J.  have  observed 
three  stages  of  opinion  among  the  Allied  countries  re- 
garding the  fight  being  carried  on  by  Germany.  The 
first  stage  may  be  summed  up :  "Germany  prepared  for 
the  war  and  chose  her  own  time.  We  did  not  prepare. 
Isn't  it  miraculous  that  we  ever  managed  to  stop  the 
German  army?" 

After  the  Germans  dug  themselves  into  position-war- 
fare, thus  affording  the  Allies  the  opportunity  to  rush 
preparations,  the  characteristic  tone  of  stage  two,  espe- 
cially popular  among  French  and  British  military  cor- 
respondents was:  "The  Allies'  superior  resources  in 
man-power  and  material  will  tell.  When  these  are  or- 
ganised, Germany  can  not  escape  defeat." 

Stage  three  I  find  strongest  in  America  as  the  fifth 
year  of  the  war  gets  under  way.  It  has  existed  to 
varying  extents  among  the  nations  of  Europe  warring 
against  Germany  but  has  tended  to  diminish  among 
them  because  of  their  proximity  to  the  actual  war. 
This  is  the  stage  of,  "Isn't  it  wonderful  how  Germany 
manages  to  hold  out  ?" 


32    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

In  the  following  chapters  I  shall  consider  the  reasons 
why  Germany  "holds  out"  in  the  light  of  the  facts  as 
I  have  found  them  throughout  Europe  and  the  United 
States.  In  doing  this  it  is  of  utmost  importance  to 
emphasise  some  of  the  thousand  differences.  In  the 
first  place  we  must  understand  clearly  the  differences 
between  the  German  system  of  government  and  our 
own  in  order  fully  to  grasp  the  significance  of  such 
great  factors  in  the  war  as  the  enemy's  struggle  against 
blockade,  the  forces  for  and  against  revolution  in  Ger- 
many, the  degree  to  which  the  struggle  may  be  con- 
tinued, and  the  future  of  propaganda  and  commercial 
conflicts. 


CHAPTER  JI 

HOW  THE  GEEMA]!TS  ABE  GOVEENED 

THE  first  step  toward  a  peaceful  community  of 
nations  is  the  smashing  of  German  military 
domination,  i.e.,  tlie  smashing  of  the  German  system 
of  government.  What  is  this  system  of  government 
and  wherein  does  it  differ  from  our  own  ? 

Two  common  conceptions  of  it  are  wrong:  In  the 
first  place,  it  is  not  an  organisation  of  supermen;  sec- 
ondly, it  is  not  a  despotism  holding  down  the  majority 
of  the  German  people  against  their  will. 

Germany  is  constantly  spoken  of  as  an  autocracy, 
as  was  Russia:  She  is.  ,  But  the  autocratic  head  en- 
joys his  tremendous  power  because  he  is  the  apex  of 
the  most  complete  and  efficient  bureaucratic  system 
known  to  history. 

Germany  is  like  a  colossal  but  perfectly  working  tele- 
phone switchboard,  the  owner  and  director  of  which 
is  the  Kaiser,  while  the  immediate  operator  is  the 
Imperial  Chancellor,  who  makes  and  breaks  connec- 
tions at  his  master's  direction,  and  so  on  down  through 
the  entire  system  of  millions  of  people,  high  and  low. 
Each  is  directly  responsible  to  the  chief  next  above  him 
in  rank.  J^Teither  the  system  nor  anybody  in  it  is  re- 
sponsible to  the  people.  Most  of  the  people,  however, 
are  welded  to  the  system  by  ingenious  devices  which 
will  be  explained  later. 

33 


34    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Germany  is  not  only  a  bureaucracy,  but  a  military 
bureaucracy,  inasmuch  as  tbe  military  and  not  the  civil 
state  is  the  ideal.  Its  head  has  never  been  in  the  least 
reticent  about  proclaiming  that  he  is  not  responsible  to 
the  people.  In  1891,  after  his  dismissal  of  Bismarck, 
William  II  informed  his  subjects: 

"One,  and  only  one,  is  lord  of  the  land,  and  I  am 
that  one." 

A  little  later  he  said  to  the  Prussian  Guard : 

"You  have  sworn  fidelity  to  me,  which  means  that 
you  are  now  soldiers.  You  have  surrendered  your- 
selves to  me  body  and  soul.  For  you  there  is  only  one 
enemy,  and  that  is  my  enemy.  In  the  present  machi- 
nations of  the  Socialists  it  may  happen  that  I  order  you 
to  shoot  down  your  own  relatives,  your  brothers,  even 
your  parents — ^may  God  spare  such  necessity! — ^but 
even  then  you  must  follow  my  command  without  de- 
mur." 

A  few  months  later  he  said : 

"The  soldier  shall  not  have  a  will  of  his  own.  You 
have  all  one  will,  and  this  is  my  will ;  there  is  only  one 
law,  and  that  is  my  law." 

The  people  accept  this,  which  they  reverently  and 
gloriously  call  "discipline."  Their  feeling  on  the  sub- 
ject is  about  as  susceptible  to  verbal  argument  from  the 
side  of  the  Allies  as  a  man-eating  tiger  would  be  to 
the  billing  and  cooing  of  a  conscientious  objector. 

From  time  to  time,  during  the  present  Kaiser's 
reign  we  have  heard  a  good  deal  of  "anti-militaristic 
socialism"  and  "turbulent  scenes  in  the  Eeichstag"; 


HOW  THE  GERMANS  ARE  GOVERNED  35 

but  in  spite  of  these  titbits  of  cabled  news,  democracy 
has  never  been  able  to  lift  its  head  in  Germany.  In 
a  speech  delivered  at  Konigsberg  on  August  25,  1910, 
William  II  displayed  to  an  admiring  nation  this  gem 
of  autocratic  eloquence : 

"It  was  on  this  spot  that  my  grandfather,  in  his  own 
right,  placed  the  royal  crown  of  Prussia  upon  his  head, 
emphasising  once  again  the  fact  that  it  was  bestowed 
upon  him  by  the  will  of  God  alone,  not  by  parliaments 
or  meetings  and  decisions  of  the  people,  and  that  he 
thus  regarded  himself  as  the  chosen  instrument  of 
Heaven,  and  as  such  carried  out  his  duties  as  a  ruler 
and  a  lord.  ...  I  consider  myself  such  an  instrument 
of  Heaven,  and  shall  go  on  my  way  without  regard  to 
the  views  and  opinions  of  the  day." 

Some  of  the  outside  world  gasped  and  rubbed  its 
eyes,  and  some  said,  "How  funny!"  But  the  people 
of  Germany  went  on  making  new  streets  and  city 
squares  and  reverently  affixing  to  them  the  names  "Wil- 
helm,"  and  "Hohenzollern,"  and  "Kaiser." 

The  Kaiser's  address  to  his  Eastern  army  in  De- 
cember, 1914,  should  be  carefully  reflected  upon  by 
every  American  because  nothing  could  more  clearly 
show  his  attitude  toward  us  and  our  allies,  an  attitude 
which  we  can  not  ignore,  since  it  is  backed  up  by  the 
efficient  support  of  the  millions  of  his  empire.  In  that 
memorable  keynote  address  to  his  spike-headed  war- 
riors of  the  East,  he  said,  with  admirable  modesty  and 
restraint : 

"Be  convinced  that  you  are  the  Chosen  People ! 
The  Spirit  of  God  has  descended  upon  me,  for  I  am 
the  Emperor  of  the  Germans! 


36    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

I  am  the  Instnunent  of  the  Most  High ! 

I  am  His  Sword  and  Spokesman! 

Misery  and  death  to  all  those  who  oppose  my  Will! 

Misery  and  death  to  all  those  who  do  not  believe 
in  my  Mission ! 

Misery  and  death  to  Cowards — all  enemies  of  the 
German  people  shall  be  annihilated ! 

God  has  decreed  their  destruction;  God  commands 
you  through  my  mouth  to  carry  out  his  Will !" 

The  Kaiser's  conception  of  the  derivation  of  his  rul- 
ing power  from  heaven  and  his  consequent  irresponsi- 
bility to  the  people  should  be  constantly  kept  in  mind 
when  the  German  system  of  government  is  under  con- 
sideration. 

In  America,  after  the  thirteen  original  states  had 
fought  for  and  achieved  their  independence,  they  for- 
mulated a  constitution  under  which  the  elected  leaders 
derived  all  their  powers  from  the  people.  It  should  be 
remembered  that  never  in  history  have  the  German  peo- 
ple as  a  whole,  unlike  the  American,  ever  fought  for 
freedom.  'No  political  rights  have  been  taken  away 
from  them  but  certain  rights  and  privileges  have  been 
granted  them  by  their  rulers. 

IN'evertheless,  the  Kaiser  does  not  govern  them  by 
caprice  or  despotic  arbitrariness  without  any  consti' 
tution.  The  Germans  have  just  as  real  a  constitution 
as  we  have.  This  phrase,  however,  is  misleading  to  the 
average  American  who  instinctively  feels  that  when  a 
thing  is  "constitutional"  it  is  in  accordance  with  some 
principle  based  upon  the  sovereignty  of  the  people.  It 
so  happens,  as  J  shall  show,  that  the  German  consti- 
tution is  a  written  negation  of  the  positive  principles 


HOW  THE  GERMANS  ARE  GOVERNED  37 

of  constitutional  government  as  we  understand  those 
principles. 

In  1848  Frederick  William  IV,  King  of  Prussia, 
granted  his  subjects  a  constitution — a  weird  document, 
according  to  our  lights,  but  still  a  constitution.  In 
1867,  after  the  close  of  the  war  with  Austria,  at  the 
instigation  of  Prussia,  the  varioua  German  state  gov- 
ernments— not  the  people — developed  from  this  a  con- 
stitution for  the  twenty-two  states  comprising  the 
iNorth  German  Confederation.  This  in  turn  was  ex- 
tended in  1871  into  the  constitution  of  the  German  em- 
pire. This  document,  compact,  clear  and  straight  to  the 
point,  is  a  crowning  monument  to  Prussia  and  all  that 
Prussia  stands  for.  In  the  words  of  the  first  German 
emperor,  William  I,  "Germany  is  an  enlarged  Prus- 
sia." 

The  Kaiser  has  clearly  defined  duties  and  rights  un- 
der the  constitution,  but  it  is  important  to  remember 
that  the  people  did  not  give  them  to  him,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  American  people  to  their  President  He 
gave  them  to  himself  under  the  masterful  guidance  of 
Bismarck,  whose  pet  abhorrence  was  the  rule  of  the 
people. 

The  eleventh  article  of  the  constitution  decrees  that 
"It  will  be  the  duty  of  the  Kaiser  to  represent  his 
Empire  among  the  nations,  to  declare  war,  and  to  con- 
clude peace  in  the  name  of  the  Empire,  to  enter  into 
alliances  and  treaties  with  foreign  states,  to  credit  and 
receive  ambassadors." 

There  is  a  qualification,  however,  which  says  that  io^s 
a  declaration  of  war  in  the  name  of  the  Empire  flie 
consent  of  the  Bundesrat  or  the  Eederal  Council  is 
required,  unless  an  attack  is  made  upon  the  federal 


38    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

territory.*  To  the  reader  unfamiliar  with  the  ways 
and  wiles  of  Prussian  documents  this  might  appear  a 
considerable  check  upon  the  autocracy  of  the  Kaiser. 
Such  would  be  the  case  if  the  Bundesrat  were  respon- 
sible to  the  people ;  but  it  is  not. 

The  Bundesrat  is  not  an  upper  house  similar  to  the 
United  States  Senate  as  has  been  stated  during  the 
war  by  a  zealous  American  professorial  protagonist  of 
Kaiserism  (an  "exchange  professor/' — who  exchanged 
his  duty  and  loyalty  to  the  citizens  of  his  own  country 
for  the  approbation  of  the  Kaiser  and  his  sycophantic 
coterie  of  German  professors) — who  wrote  a  book 
which  was  fathered  by  the  German  government  in  which 
he  deliberately  and  dishonestly,  by  the  use  of  half 

*  Even  if  it  were,  the  clause  "Unless  an  attack  ia  made  upon 
the  federal  territory"  would  have  given  the  Emperor  the  right 
under  German  reasoning  in  1914  to  declare  war  upon  Eussia, 
since  the  Kaiser  and  his  appointees  in  the  army  and  the  foreign 
oflBce  so  organised  oflScial  correspondence  that  the  politically 
baby-bottled  German  people  imquestioningly  absorbed  the  in- 
spired idea  that  the  Kaiser  had  tried  to  preserve  peace,  but  that 
Russia's  mobilisation  order,  after  the  Kaiser  had  expressly  told 
her  that  she  must  not  issue  it,  was  equivalent  to  an  attack  upon 
federal  territory. 

What  the  public  did  not  know  was  that  their  rulers,  having 
determined  at  the  Potsdam  Council  of  July  5th  upon  war  and 
being  desirous  of  hastening  its  coming  in  order  to  reap  full  ad- 
vantage of  their  superior  preparation,  ingeniously  forced  Eussia 
to  mobilise  by  instigating  a  sham  addition  of  the  semi-official 
newspaper,  the  Lokal  Anzeiger,  with  the  lieadlines  that  Germany 
had 'ordered  a  general  mobilisation.  The  Eussian  ambassador 
in  Berlin  of  course  at  once  telegraphed  this  news  to  Petrograd. 

The  small  edition  of  the  newspaper  was  promptly  withdrawn 
and  a  contradiction  published,  which  the  Eussian  ambassador 
also  immediately  telegraphed.  This  second  telegram  might  have 
held  up  the  Czar's  mobilisation  which  was  considered  by  the 
Russians  to  be  a  counter  to  the  G«rman  mobilisation,  had  not 
the  war  organisers  of  Germany  taken  advantage  of  the  fact  that 
the  state  owns  the  telegraph  and  with  characteristic  Prussian 
thoroughness  cleared  the  wires  for  the  first  telegram  and  blocked 
them  for  twelve  hours  in  the  transmission  of  the  second. 


HOW  THE  GERMANS  ARE  GOVERNED  39 

truths,  sought  to  win  American  sympathy  for  Germany 
in  the  days  when  we  were  neutral  by  representing  the 
governments  of  both  countries  as  full  of  parallels. 

The  Bundesrat  is  an  institution  peculiar  to  the  con- 
stitutional system  of  Germany — a  master-stroke  of  a 
masterful  document  which,  in  true  Bismarckian  fash-^ 
ion,  gives  the  docile  populace  privileges  with  the  right 
hand  and  takes  them  away  with  the  left.  A  "concea- 
sion"  in  the  German  constitution  bears  precisely  the 
same  relation  to  the  simple  German  citizen  that  bait 
on  the  sharp  end  of  a  hook  does  to  a  fish. 

The  Bundesrat  is  a  body  of  delegates  appointed  by 
the  rulers  of  the  several  states.  Prussia  appoints  17; 
Bavaria  6 ;  Saxony  and  Wurtemberg  4  each,  and  so  on 
to  a  total  of  58.  It  is  not  in  the  main  a  deliberative 
body,  since  the  delegates  act  according  to  instructions, 
the  delegation  of  each  state  casting  a  solid  vote.  If 
you  add  up  the  number  of  delegates  of  the  states  other 
than  Prussia,  you  make  the  comforting  discovery  that 
Prussia  is  outnumbered  by  41  votes.  Prussia  has  not. 
a  majority  and  has  surrendered  her  influence,  you  may 
say.  True,  she  has  not  a  majority,  but  it  is  also  true 
that  Prussia  never  yields;  she  only  seems  to  yield. 
When  the  Prussian  government  announces  a  concession 
it  is  heg,lthful  for  one  to  hone  his  bayonet  and  load  his- 
rifle. 

In  the  imperial  constitution  Prussia  has  carefully 
made  provision  for  her  lack  of  a  majority  in  the 
Bundesrat.  Note  two  important  exceptions  to  the  ma- 
jority rule  of  that  body: 

1 — "Where  there  is  a  division  of  opinion  concern- 
ing proposed  legislation  on  military  affairs,  navy,  tariff 
and  certain  taxes,  as  well  as  the  arrangements  proposed 


40    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

for  carrying  out  the  tariff  and  tax  laws,  the  vote  of 
Prussia  is  decisive  if  it  is  cast  in  the  favour  of  statiLS 
quo/* 

2 — "Amendments  to  the  constitution  shall  be  con- 
sidered rejected  when  they  have  against  them  14  votes 
of  the  Bundesrat." 

'  The  "joker"  in  this  is  that  Prussia's  17  delegates  are 
appointed  by  the  King  of  Prussia  who  since  1871  is 
ipso  facto  German  Emperor,  and  the  17  vote  in  a  solid 
block  as  he  directs ;  therefore,  according  to  paragraph 
1,  any  attempt  among  the  other  German  states  to  liber- 
alise a  militaristic  nation  can  be  legally  killed  by  the 
war-lord  who  said  to  his  army  of  the  East,  "Misery  and 
death  to  all  those  who  do  not  believe  in  my  mission." 

All  this  means  that  reactionary,  anti-democratic 
Junker  Prussia  can  constitutionally  preserve  the  Ger- 
man menace  of  militarism.  Moreover,  Prussia  prac- 
tically controls  the  vote  of  certain  other  states  which 
are  at  one  with  her  in  ideas  and  practices — as,  for  in- 
stance, mediaeval  Mecklenberg,  where  all  power  and 
privilege  continue  to  rest  in  the  Bitterschaft,  or  knights 
who  possess  the  land. 

Furthermore,  the  heads  of  all  the  German  states  may 
be  counted  upon  to  stand  with  the  King  of  Prussia,  who 
is  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  against  any  ini^vation 
tending  seriously  to  weaken  princely  and  royal  power. 
They  can  do  this  constitutionally  through  the 
Bundesrat,  which  is  in  practice  nothing  more  or  less 
than  a  trade-union  of  sovereigns. 

In  regard  to  legislation,  moreover,  the  Bundesrat 
works  an  effective  check  on  the  Reichstag. 

In  form,  the  Reichstag  might  be  considered  an  ideal 
legislative  body  of  the  people's  representatives,  elected 


HOW  THE  GERMANS  ARE  GOVERNED  41 

for  a  term  of  five  years  upon  a  suffrage  granting  to 
every  male  above  the  age  of  twenty-five  the  right  to 
cast  a  secret  ballot  For  a  stranger  unfamiliar  with 
the  German  system  to  attend  a  Reichstag  meeting  is  for 
him  to  believe  that  Germany  is  a  land  of  unrestricted 
speech.  When  the  Social  Democrats  have  the  floor — 
or,  in  this  body,  the  platform — ^he  might  conclude  that 
the  German  Empire  is  on  the  verge  of  becoming  the 
most  liberal  of  democracies. 

That  appearances  are  sometimes  deceitful  is  espe- 
cially true  of  Germany,  as  even  Lord  Haldane  might 
now  admit. 

The  ably  edited  Arheiter  Zeitung,  the  Socialist  organ 
of  Vienna,  discussing  the  Maurice  episode  which  stirred 
British  politics  in  May,  1918,  in  a  satiric  article  on  the 
parliaments  of  the  Central  Powers  says: 

"The  terrible  thing  is  that  English  generals,  when 
they  rebel,  address  themselves  to  Parliament.  Is  this 
military  ?  The  proper  view  of  parliament  for  a  genuine 
soldier  has  recently  been  explained  to  us  in  the  instruc- 
tion for  education  in  the  German  Army.  There  we 
are  plainly  told  that  a  parliament  is  a  talking-shop. 
What  has  a  soldier  to  do  with  a  talking  shop  ? — ^unless, 
indeed,  as  recently  happened  in  Kieff  in  Russia,  he 
has  received  orders  to  break  up  the  talking-shop." 

The  Arheiter  Zeitung  is  right. 

The  proportion  of  democratic  legislation  growing 
out  of  gales  of  talk  is  abysmally  low — ^lower  than  in 
any  other  parliament  in  the  world. 

Why?    The  answer  is  a  constitutional  one. 

In  the  United  Kingdom,  in  the  self-governing  Brit- 
ish colonies,  and  in  general  throughout  the  democracies 


42    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

of  the  world,  govermnent  is  based  upon  the  will  of  the 
people.  They  constitute  the  broad  foundation.  Then 
come  the  people's  representatives  in  the  national  legis- 
lature or  parliament;  higher  still  the  members  of  the 
cabinet,  who  are  likewise  members  of  the  legislature  by 
virtue  of  popular  election;  then  the  prime  minister, 
who  is  the  actual  or  virtual  holder  of  the  chief  execu- 
tive power.  It  is  like  a  triangle  based  upon  the  people, 
with  the  prime  minister  the  apex. 

This  picture,  with  but  slight  variations,  applies  to  all 
democracies,  though  sometimes  with  the  substitution, 
as  in  the  United  States,  of  an  elective  head  who  is  not 
responsible  to  the  legislature,  but  draws  his  power  di- 
rect from  the  people. 

In  Germany  there  is  indeed  a  parliament,  the  Reichs- 
tag, containing  the  people's  representatives,  and  hence 
based  upon  the  people's  will;  but  there  the  similarity 
with  the  real  democracies  ends.  It  is  a  similarity  which 
has  confused  the  world  and  soothed  it  while  Germany 
prepared — a  similarity  intended  by  Bismarck  to  con- 
fuse the  German  people  themselves. 

Instead  of  an  unbroken  succession  of  steps  from  the 
people  to  the  chief  executive  of  the  democracy,  there  is 
in  Germany  an  all-important  break  after  the  step  from 
the  people  to  the  Reichstag.  Here  we  come  to  quite 
another  series  of  steps,  which  leads  not  upward  but 
downward. 

The  Kaiser  is  at  the  top,  exercising  authority  not  hy 
the  will  of  the  'people,  hut  hy  the  grace  of  God.  He 
appoints  an  imperial  chancellor  and  ministers  of  all 
departments  of  state — men  responsible  to  him  alone, 
and  dismissed  by  him  at  pleasure.  He  and  they  con- 
stitute a  cabinet  of  super-Germans,  above  the  Reichs- 


HOW  THE  GERMANS  ARE  GOVERNED  43 

tag,  but  not  of  it.  From  this  lofty  position  they  gra- 
ciously descend  from  the  German  political  heaven  until 
they  come  into  touch  with  the  people's  representatives 
on  those  occasions  when  it  is  necessary  to  secure  their 
sanction  to  governmental  measures. 

This  leads  us  to  yet  another  important  difference  be- 
tween the  parliaments  of  democracy  and  the  Reichstag. 
The  former  normally  consist  of  two  main  parties,  one 
of  which  holds  the  reins  of  power  until  the  people  de- 
mand a  change.  Although  so-called  third  parties  may 
appear,  and  even  maintain  themselves  for  a  time,  they 
tend,  in  the  course  of  these  processes  of  reformation 
constantly  going  on,  to  become  absorbed  into  one  or 
the  other  of  the  two  leading  groups.  Our  own  Pro- 
gressive party  is  a  typical  case  in  point. 

The  opposite  is  true  in  the  German  Reichstag,  where 
parties  are  constantly  tending  to  disintegrate.  The 
absence  of  the  power  to  form  cabinets  and  undertake  the 
constructive  work  of  governing  liberates  all  parties  to 
go  to  their  devious  ways,  and  gives  unrestrained  play 
to  the  tendency  toward  segregation.  That  explains  why 
there  are  in  the  Reichstag  so  many  different  parties  or 
fractions — varying  from  ten  to  sixteen,  in  all — each 
with  its  party  organisation  and  leader. 

How  does  the  government  manipulate  these  various 
parties?  It  does  so  through  the  so-called  institutions 
of  the  "block." 

Parties  were  poisonous  to  Bismarck.  He  therefore 
treated  them  as  poisons,  figuratively  speaking,  using 
one  poison  as  the  antidote  of  another,  so  as  to  neutral- 
ise the  action  or  influence  of  both;  and  his  method  is 
still  in  vogue. 

For  example,  if  the  Conservatives  desire  a  certain 


44    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

measure  which  is  opposed  by  the  Social  Democrats,  the 
chancellor  can  say  to  the  Conservatives: 

"Modify  your  opposition  to  the  Social  Democrats, 
or  your  measure  will  be  defeated." 

Similarly  he  will  inform  the  Social  Democrats : 

"Withdraw  some  of  your  opposition  to  the  Conser- 
vatives, or  you  will  not  get  some  other  concession  that 
you  want." 

Thus,  by  forcing  opposing  parties  to  compromise 
their  most  extreme  demands,  the  hands  of  the  govern- 
ment are  freed  to  deal  with  those  policies  or  measures 
which  the  government  most  desires.  !N^ot  only  indi« 
vidual  parties  or  fractions,  but  groups  of  parties,  or 
blocks,  are  thus  pitted  against  one  another  in  order 
to  enable  the  government  to  push  through  legislative 
schemes  which  it  regards  as  necessary  and  beneficial 

With  the  exception  of  the  Social  Democrats,  the  Ger- 
man parties  have  in  the  main  been  content  with  this 
method.  They  call  it  "strong  cabinet  government  mod- 
ified by  parliamentary  action." 

When  things  do  not  move  to  the  Kaiser's  satisfaction, 
he  may  decide  that  the  chancellor  has  become  worn  out 
at  the  game.  Then  he  "accepts  the  resignation"  of  that 
official,  and  appoints  a  new  medicine-man  who  can  open 
up  a  fresh  bag  of  tricks.  He  has  already  done  this 
twice  to  further  the  intricate  politics  of  the  war. 

Von  Bethmann-HoUweg,  who  shouldered  the  burdens 
of  chancellor  from  1906  to  July,  1917,  had  antago- 
nised the  Pan-German  disciples  of  "force  alone"  because 
he  sought  to  reconcile  gentlemanly  and  musical  instincts 
with  the  peculiar  duties  of  the  Wilhelmstrasse.  For  his 
undiplomatic  truthfulness  in  the  confession  to  the 
Beichstag  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  that  his  country 


HOW  THE  GERMANS  ARE  GOVERNED  45 

was  committing  a  wrong  in  entering  Belgium,  thej 
never  forgave  him.  In  tiie  London  Times  in  ISTovem- 
ber,  1916,  I  predicted  his  downfall  in  the  following 
paragraph : 

"The  military  party  in  Germany,  who  are  flaying 
von  Bethmann-HoUweg  for  his  ignorance  of  the  inten- 
tions of  Britain's  Dominions  and  of  Ireland,  never 
cease  to  throw  in  his  teeth  the  fact  that  he  had  millions 
of  pounds  (not  marks)  at  his  back  to  make  the  neces- 
sary investigations,  and  that  he  failed.  That  and  his 
lack  of  the  use  of  ruthlessness,  his  alleged  three  days' 
delay  to  mobilise  in  1914,  are  the  principal  charges 
against  him — charges  which,  in  my  opinion,  may  even- 
tually result  in  his  downfall." 

They  did  cause  his  downfall  after  his  usefulness  in 
lulling  America  terminated  at  the  time  Count  Bem- 
storff  was  handed  his  passports.  But  the  mere  fact 
that  he  continued  chancellor  in  the  third  year  of  the 
war  instead  of  that  office  being  filled  by  Tirpitz  or  one 
of  his  disciples,  has  changed  the  course  of  history  by 
delaying  our  own  participation. 

When  Michaelis  was  appointed  to  succeed  von  Beth- 
mann-HoUweg,  it  was  never  intended  that  he  should  be 
more  than  a  transition-link  which  would  afford  Ger- 
man statesmen  an  opportunity  to  "mark  time"  while 
the  complicated  events  of  the  period  were  crystallising. 
After  the  Kaiser  had  "condolently  accepted"  the  resig- 
nation of  "Mark-Time-Michaelis,"  he  appointed  Count 
Hertling  for  a  definite  and  highly  important  political 
reason. 

The  remarkable  feature  of  the  appointment  is  that 
the  new  chancellor  is  not  a  Prussian  but  a  Bavarian. 


46    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Three  reasons  determined  tlie  selection  of  a  Bavarian: 

1.  Friction  between  Bavaria  and  Prussia  has  been 
growing  since  1916  because  Bavaria,  who  is  better  off 
for  food  than  is  most  of  Prussia,  refuses  to  share  it 
and  also  passes  strict  regulations  limiting  Prussian 
feeders  who  sweep  down  from  the  North.  By  appoint- 
ing one  man  the  vanity  of  a  whole  state  could  be  ex- 
ploited. 

2.  Austria  having  achieved  her  offensive  war  aims, 
is  chafing  more  and  more  under  a  dragging  war. 
Therefore  any  idea  that  the  war  was  being  lengthened 
because  of  Prussian  Pan-German  policies,  would  make 
it  more  difficult  for  the  Hapsburgs  to  apply  effectively 
the  cement  which  keeps  their  mosaic  empire  in  being. 
For  this  reason,  since  Austria's  sympathy  is  with  South 
Germany  rather  than  with  North  Germany,  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  chancellor  from  South  Germany  would 
draw  the  fangs  of  the  Prussian  conquest  idea  develop- 
ing in  Austria, 

3.  The  German  rulers  never  lose  sight  in  the  war 
of  the  importance  of  bluffing  outsiders.  They  have 
used,  and  will  continue  to  use  this  weapon  right  through 
the  peace  conference.  They  know  perfectly  well  that 
the  outside  world  has  been  differentiating  between 
Prussia  and  Bavaria;  therefore,  Hertling's  appoint* 
ment  would  lead  it  to  believe  that  Prussianism  was 
waning  in  the  German  Empire  before  the  advancing 
liberalism  of  the  South. 

But  the  Prussian  masters  know  their  man. 

Hertling's  "Democratic  Tendencies"  are  best  shown 
by  quotations  from  a  book  of  political  essays,  published 
in  1897,  which  Maximilian  Harden  brings  to  light: 


HOW  THE  GERMANS  ARE  GOVERNED  47 

"Are  democratic  institutions  and  the  democratic  way 
of  thinking  really  sufficient  guarantees  for  the  freedom 
of  the  individual  ?    The  contrary  is  the  case." 

"In  a  democratic  national  state,  the  mass  of  men  of 
middle  stature  immediately  turns  in  jealousy  and  mis- 
trust against  any  one  who  distinguishes  himself  from 
the  rest  by  any  unusual  characteristic." 

"Instructive  light  is  throvrn  upon  the  nature  of 
the  socialist  state  of  the  future  by  the  tyranny  which  un- 
skilled and  inferior  workmen  are  wont  to  practice 
upon  the  efficient  and  skilled." 

"It  is  not  necessary  for  the  monarch  to  be  the  only 
authority  in  the  state,  but  he  must  be  the  highest 
authority,  and  as  such  may  not  be  called  to  account  by 
any  other  authority.  The  full  conception  of  a  monarchy 
includes  the  rightful  irresponsibility  of  the  monarch.* 
While  monarchy  is  only  a  state  form  existing  side  by 
side  with  other  forms,  the  rightful  foundation  of  kingly 
power  can  be  derived  from  no  other  source  than  that 
from  which  all  right  is  derived.  It  is  the  moral  order- 
ing of  the  world  which  traces  back  to  God  as  supreme 
creative  cause.  N^ot  only  formally,  but  materially  the 
supreme  decision  rests  with  the  monarch.  He  nominates 
ministers  according  to  his  own  pleasure  and  free  will. 
If  in  doing  so  he  takes  account  of  public  opinion  or  of 
the  opinion  prevailing  among  the  representatives  of  the 
people,  he  may  be  satisfying  a  requirement  of  wisdom, 
but  not  any  rightful  demand." 

The  Kaiser  himself  could  not  do  a  better  job  on  the 
divine  right  theory  of  government. 

*Throughout  the  book  the  italicg  are  mine  unless  the  con- 
trary is  stated. 


48    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

So  much  for  the  moment  for  the  chancellor. 

What  power  has  the  Reichstag  to  embarrass  him  to 
the  rest  of  the  Government?  Let  us  return  to  a  con- 
sideration of  the  Reichstag.  We  have  thus  far  dwelt 
upon  its  lack  of  power. 

Bismarck  realised  that  the  Reichstag  really  did  have 
a  limited  amount  of  power  and  it  could  develop  itself 
into  a  trouble-making  organisation  if  the  military  side 
of  the  Government  allowed  things  to  get  out  of  hand. 
Able  and  resourceful,  he  therefore  planned  to  destroy 
its  power  by  a  coup  d'etat,  the  details  of  which  make 
his  forging  of  the  Ems  telegram  look  almost  like 
honest  diplomacy.  He  chose  the  accession  of  Wil- 
liam II  as  a  propitious  time  to  put  his  plan  into 
operation,  which  was  to  dissolve  the  Reichstag  by  the 
Emperor's  authority,  he  counting  upon  such  sudden  dis- 
solution to  lead  to  Socialist  uprisings  in  the  streets. 
Fighting  would  ensue,  blood  would  flow.  Then  the 
German  Emperor  would  declare  that  he  could  no  longer 
govern  under  existing  conditions  and  he  would  renounce 
the  imperial  crown.  The  sovereigns  of  all  the  German 
states  would  be  called  to  a  conference  where  suggestion 
would  be  made  that  the  German  Empire  should  be 
reconstituted  under  the  presidency  of  the  King  of 
Prussia;  but  the  King  of  Prussia  would  declare  that 
he  would  be  willing  to  again  resume  the  imperial  crown 
only  if  the  imperial  constitution  was  so  altered  that  all 
those  Germans  who  supported  a  policy  hostile  to  the 
State,  and  especially  all  Socialists,  would  be  disenfran- 
chised and  the  secret  ballot  abolished. 

Bismarck  believed  that  in  their  patriotic  excitement 
the  German  people  would  have  supported  this.  Then, 
after  their  sentimental  ardour  had  cooled,  they  would 


HOW  THE  GERMANS  ARE  GOVERNED  49 

find  themselves  without  a  Parliament.  They  would 
thus  have  no  forum  where  future  discontent  might  be 
voiced,  and  any  individual  who  started  to  rise  up  with 
Democratic  ideas,  would  be  promptly  squelched  by  the 
military. 

Had  William  I  still  reigned,  Bismarck  could  have 
won  him  to  the  support  of  this  plan;  but  William  II 
developed  a  temperament  in  youth  which  brooked  no 
partnership  in  governing,  much  less  a  dictatorship  from 
even  the  Iron  Chancellor  who  had  welded  the  Empire 
which  became  the  inheritance  of  the  young  Hohenzol- 
lern. 

According  to  the  Memoirs  of  Prince  Hohenlohe^  Wil- 
liam II  told  the  Prince  that  he  was  unwilling  to  act  on 
Bismarck's  suggestion  and  thus  begin  his  reign  by  shoot- 
ing his  subjects  in  the  effort  to  obtain  a  coup  d'etat. 
He  was  confident  of  his  strength  to  remain  absolute  by 
other  means.  He  has  thus  far  succeeded  in  keeping 
the  Keichstag  subjected  to  his  will;  in  fact,  Germany 
is  a  more  formidable  foe  than  had  Bismarck's  coup 
d'etat  been  carried  out;  for  the  Reichstag,  with  its 
speeches  that  are  so  often  incorrectly  gauged  by  demo- 
cratic nations,  has  proved  a  decoy  during  four  years 
of  war  to  lead  the  enemies  of  Germany  into  the  deadly 
war-aims-talk-trap  while  the  Kaiser  behind  the  Reichs- 
tag veil  could  marshal  his  forces  for  more  stupendous 
onslaughts. 

There  may  come  a  time,  though,  should  the  war  go 
heavily  against  Germany,  when  Bismarck's  misgivings 
may  come  true.  These  he  best  expressed  when  he  wrote 
to  the  Conservative  leader,  von  Heldoff,  "J!  will  devote 
the  last  years  of  my  life  to  correcting  my  greatest  mis- 
take— ^the  universal  vote  and  the  secret  ballot." 


50    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

What  power  has  the  Keichstag,  then,  to  embarrass 
the  govermnent?  The  tremendously  important  check, 
it  would  appear  upon  first  consideration,  of  refusing  to 
vote  credits.  This  right,  however,  German  jurists 
agree,  does  not  mean  the  regular  budget,  but  only  ex- 
traordinary sources  of  new  revenue,  such  as  war-loans. 

Here,  again,  the  imperial  constitution  comes  to  the 
aid  of  the  government.  The  disobliging  house  can  be 
dissolved  and  a  new  one  elected  within  sixty  days. 
This  happened  in  1878,  1887,  1893,  and  1906,  and  on 
each  occasion  the  people  repudiated  their  representa- 
tives and  sanctioned  the  official  proposals — not  neces- 
sarily because  they  really  favoured  them,  but  seem- 
ingly because,  in  the  kindergarten  development  of  their 
political  life,  they  were  awed  by  the  firm  stand  of  the 
government. 

Since  Prussia  is  the  dominating  State  in  Germany, 
and  Germany  has  been  increasingly  "Prussianised" 
since  1870,  it  is  necessary  to  understand  some  pecul- 
iarities in  the  Prussian  system  of  voting.  The  most 
burning  political  question  in  Prussian  politics  is  fran- 
chise reform — a  reform  promised  by  the  Kaiser  in 
1917,  but  which  the  Prussian  leaders  have  contrived  to 
postpone  again  in  1918. 

A  peculiar  tribal  system  prevails  in  the  election  of 
members  of  the  Prussian  Landtag,  the  legislature  of  the 
kingdom  of  Prussia.  Voters  are  divided  into  three 
classes,  according  to  the  amount  of  state  taxes  paid  in 
each  electoral  district.  These  three  classes  choose  the 
members  of  an  electoral  college,  who  then  elect  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Landtag. 

The  result  is  that  some  two  hundred  and  sixty  thou- 
sand wealthy  taxpayers  elect  one-third,  eight  hundred 


HOW  THE  GERMANS  ARE  GOVERNED  51 

and  seventy  thousand  less  wealthy  taxpayers  elect  one- 
third,  and  the  remaining  six  million  five  hundred  thou- 
sand voters  elect  one-third.  Then  the  first  two  groups, 
being  for  the  most  part  Conservatives,  combine  to  freeze 
out  the  representatives  of  the  numerical  majority. 
There  are  nearly  four  times  as  many  Social  Democrats 
as  Conservatives  in  Prussia,  but  through  the  wondrous 
workings  of  the  three-class  system  of  voting,  there  are 
212  Conservatives  and  only  6  Social  Democrats  in 
the  legislature.  An  ingenious  arrangement,  to  be  sure, 
and  a  great  testimonial  to  the  hypnotic  powers  of  the 
little  circle  of  Prussian  gods  who  magically  persuade 
the  masses  that  the  form  is  the  substance ! 

These  Prussian  gods  secure  further  power  unto  them- 
selves by  reserving  for  the  king  the  power  to  appoint 
the  president  of  each  of  the  twelve  provinces  into  which 
Prussia  is  divided.  Each  province  is  further  divided 
into  two  or  more  districts,  thirty-five  in  all.  At  the 
head  of  each  is  a  district  president,  also  appointed  by 
the  crown.  There  is  a  further  division  into  nearly  five 
hundred  Tcreise,  or  circles,  each  governed  by  a  landrat, 
also  appointed  by  the  emperor-king. 

Though  these  men  govern  well  in  perhaps  the  ma- 
jority of  cases,  many  of  them  are  prone  to  the  officious- 
ness  of  a  bureaucratic  system.  They  and  other  officials 
often  exert  a  pernicious  influence,  especially  in  the 
rural  regions,  by  weeding  out  independent  tendencies 
and  bending  the  will  of  those  under  them  to  be  sub- 
servient to  absolute  monarchical  ideas.  Life  is  made 
intolerable  for  the  recalcitrant.  From  personal  knowl- 
edge I  could  give  a  long  list  of  cases  of  men  and  women 
who  were  hounded  until  some  of  them  sought  refuge 
across  the  seas. 


52    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Descending  through  the  system,  the  petty  officious- 
ness  of  the  lower  officials  becomes  a  curse  in  the  eyea 
of  a  man  brought  up  under  democratic  institutions. 
Many  positions  in  the  police,  the  railway  service,  and 
the  post-office  are  given  by  preference  to  non-commis- 
sioned officers — the  notorious  unteroffiziere — who  transr 
fer  the  browbeating  tactics  they  employed  for  yeara 
upon  fresh  army  recruits  to  the  people  of  every-day  life 
with  whom  they  come  in  contact  in  their  new  positions ; 
and  they  are  by  no  means  the  only  offenders. 

Speaking  generally,  the  individuals  who  form  the 
German  bureaucracy  are  cowed  by  those  above  them, 
and  they  all  unite  in  cowing  those  outside  the  system. 
It  is  difficult  for  a  private  person  to  get  redress  in 
the  case  of  abuse  of  authority  by  an  official,  unless  the 
case  is  flagrant,  inasmuch  as  the  very  men  who  pass 
judgment  are  part  of  the  system  and  believe  in  uphold- 
ing it. 

That  many  Germans  chafe  under  all  this  is  true. 
Millions  have  sought  freedom  under  other  flags  during 
the  past  fifty  years.  There  are  in  America  to-day  any 
number  of  citizens  of  German  blood  who  are  as  strongly 
opposed  to  Kaiserism  as  are  other  Americans.  But  it 
is  equally  true  that  the  people  of  William  II's  empire, 
taken  as  a  whole,  acquiesce  in  the  established  system 
or  even  delight  in  it. 

Jn  all  countries,  to  a  greater  or  lesser  extent,  only 
the  few  care  to  assume  chances  in  the  matter  of  earn- 
ing a  living.  The  many  prefer  a  sure  thing.  The  im- 
perial government  and  the  various  state  governments 
of  Germany  can  offer  an  assured  livelihood  to  millions. 
The  State  owns,  in  some  cases  partly,  and  in  others  en- 
tirely, the  railways,  canals,  telegraphs  and  telephones. 


HOW  THE  GERMANS  ARE  GOVERNED  53 

forests,  coal-mines,  iron-mines,  steel  works,  tobacco  and 
porcelain  factories,  banks,  lotteries,  medicinal  baths 
and  springs,  breweries,  and  newspapers.  In  Prussia, 
for  example,  the  State  is  the  largest  proprietor  of  mines 
and  minerals.  Thus  millions  of  Germans  who  have 
passed  the  necessary  examinations  and  secured  a  "sure 
thing,"  and  millions  of  other  Germans  who  hope  to 
pass  into  the  civil  service,  can  be  counted  upon  to  sup- 
port the  existing  form  of  government. 

Through  the  scientific  exploitation  of  human  van- 
ity, the  government  exercises  another  form  of  control 
over  its  servants  of  various  degrees,  including  profes- 
sors, scientists,  and  business  men. 

Some  of  the  thousand  differences  between  the 
United  States  and  Germany  may  seem  trivial ;  but  they 
are  worth  considering  by  all  who  would  understand  the 
situation.  The  Germans,  when  addressing  one  an- 
other, use  titles  to  an  extreme  which  we  should  regard 
as  belonging  to  the  realm  of  comic  opera.  They  have 
been  reared  to  honour  and  love  labels,  and  they  devote 
themselves  to  the  cult  with  amazing  whole-hearted- 
ness. 

One  case,  by  no  means  exceptional,  will  illustrate 
the  point.  A  few  years  before  the  war  the  draftsmen 
of  the  imperial  navy-yard  at  Kiel  became  dissatisfied 
and  demanded  more  pay.  The  government  met  the  sit- 
uation with  a  refusal  to  grant  their  monetary  demands, 
but  laid  before  them  a  compensatory  programme  of  so- 
cial advancement.  After  a  definite  number  of  years  a 
draftsman  would  be  permitted  to  use  the  title  honstruk- 
tionsrat  (construction  councillor).  Another  period  of 
years,  and  he  would  become  geJieimer  konstruhtionsrat 
(privy  construction  councillor).     Another  period,  and 


54    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

lie  would  be  a  wirhlich  geheimer  konstruhtionsrat 
(genuinely  privy  construction  councillor).  In  address- 
ing him  you  say  "Herr  Wirklich — "  and  all  the  rest 
of  it,  right  through  to  the  end,  and  you  put  the  same 
ponderous  mass  on  the  envelope  of  the  letter  you  write 
him. 

He  delights  in  all  this,  for  the  title  marks  his  prog- 
ress on  the  social  ladder.  He  offers  up  thanks  to  a 
benevolent  government. 

The  title  custom  has  its  brighter  side,  to  be  sure, 
for  the  visiting  American.  When  he  meets  a  German, 
the  mere  form  of  introduction  will  usually  afford  an 
amount  of  information  as  to  the  nature  of  the  man's 
business,  which  the  most  astute  insurance-agent  in  our 
own  country  could  not  hope  to  get  so  promptly.  The 
system  furthermore  saves  one  the  trouble  of  speculat- 
ing, during  dinner,  upon  the  probable  occupation  of  the 
bald-headed  gentleman  on  one's  right,  or  the  tall,  intel- 
lectual-looking personage  opposite.  The  "who's  who" 
introduction  eliminates  all  that. 

But  our  happy  American  way  of  looking  upon  for- 
eign customs  from  the  humorous  side  may  sometimes 
lead  us  into  serious  trouble,  if  we  do  not  go  to  the  root 
of  things.  The  title  system  is  no  laughing  matter, 
for  it  is  one  of  the  powerful  bonds  that  welds  the  Ger- 
man people  to  the  German  government.  And  because 
the  divine  right  speeches  of  the  Kaiser  sound  like  ex- 
cerpts from  a  joke-book  to  you,  and  because  you  would 
not  care  to  live  under  his  law,  it  does  not  follow  that 
most  of  his  subjects  are  beginning  to  feel  the  same 
way. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  think  that  a  German  can 
cite  no  solid  arguments  in  favour  of  his  system  of  gov- 


HOW  THE  GERMANS  ARE  GOVERNED  S5 

enunent,  judged  by  the  results  accomplished  under  it. 
He  will  tell  you  that  his  system  prevents  a  majority 
party  playing  politics  for  the  spoils  of  office,  and  that 
"graft"  in  public  expenditures  is  practically  elimi- 
nated. He  can  point  with  justifiable  pride  to  the  sane 
and  business-like  management  of  his  cities  under  ex- 
pert departmental  heads,  with  mayors  who  are  not 
elected  for  political  reasons,  but  are  appointed  because 
they  have  made  a  professional  study  of  the  business  of 
running  a  city. 

If  the  ministerial  heads  of  a  bureaucracy  are  benev- 
olent and  endowed  with  wisdom,  they  can  accomplish 
more  than  would  usually  be  possible  in  a  democracy 
with  its  present  flaws.  Since  there  is  no  "rule  of  the 
people"  in  Germany,  there  is  little  necessity  for  play- 
ing politics — except  international — by  those  in  the 
higher  governing  strata,  which  permits  them  to  give 
their  whole  attention,  with  the  most  complete  profes- 
sional and  expert  advice,  to  the  work  of  improving  ma- 
terially the  whole  nation.  Their  highly-organised, 
smoothly  running  system  of  government  enables  them 
to  pass  scientifically  framed  measures  in  regard  to 
banking,  manufacturing,  and  trade-measures  conducive 
to  the  development  of  tremendous  material  power. 

The  leaders  of  the  German  states  are  not  always 
Simon  Legrees,  lashing  profits  from  their  toiling  sub- 
jects. Usually  they  are  hard  working  men  who  ad- 
vocate every  reform  but  political  ones.  With  respect 
to  the  last,  however,  their  views  accord  with  those  of 
Frederick  William  IV,  who  was  prone  to  talk  of  the 
''limited  intelligence  of  the  subject." 

Unlike  most  other  governments,  the  German  govern- 
ment is  not  simply  legislative,  executive  and  judicial. 


56    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

It  is  very  much  more.  It  is  the  supreme  Board  of  Di- 
rectors of  the  manifold  businesses  of  the  people  and  the 
Empire.  The  war  is  teaching  us  that  the  popular  idea 
in  democracies  that  there  must  be  a  broad  gulf  between 
economics  and  politics,  must  bo  relegated  to  antiquity 
by  every  nation  that  hopes  to  keep  its  head  above 
water  in  the  commercial  struggle  that  is  coming.  The 
German  Empire  never  developed  this  idea,  but  from 
the  first  closely  co-ordinated  economics  and  politics. 

Banking,  the  foundation  of  modern  business,  has 
been  given  special  attention  by  the  German  Govern- 
ment, which  considers  banking  and  commerce  natural 
allies.  The  German  banks  enter  actively  and  directly 
into  trade.  This  they  do  for  two  reasons:  Eirst,  to 
secure  profitable  investment  for  their  own  funds,  and 
secondly,  to  increase  national  prosperity.  German 
banks  do  not  coldly  rebuff  a  man  with  an  inventive 
idea  in  need  of  capital. 

Suppose,  for  example,  that  Herr  Lehmann  invents 
a  new  method  of  rubber  manufacture.  The  mere  fact 
that  he  may  have  no  money  doesn't  make  it  necessary 
for  him  to  spend  years  annexing  some  kind  of  "in- 
fluence" or  playing  into  the  hands  of  a  promoter  who 
will  gobble  up  most  of  the  profits  in  return  for  financial 
backing.  Herr  Lehmann  simply  goes  to  a  large  bank, 
the  Deutsche  Bank,  for  example,  and  announces  his 
business.  He  will  then  be  taken  to  a  private  office 
where  he  will  be  questioned  by  a  bank  official.  If  there 
seems  to  be  something  in  his  project,  he  will  be  turned 
over  to  one  of  the  bank's  rubber  specialists,  probably  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Directors.  If  the  expert  pro- 
nounces the  project  favourable,  the  bank  agrees  to  form 


HOW  THE  GERMANS  ARE  GOVERNED  $1 

a  company  in  partnership  with  Herr  Lehmann,  to  thie 
advantage  of  both. 

Even  though  Herr  Lehmann  had  sufficient  money  to 
develop  his  scheme,  it  would  be  better  for  him  to  form 
an  alliance  with  the  bank,  because  of  its  great  power 
through  its  wide-spread  branches  of  industry  to  get  big 
orders  immediately.  Thus  hand  in  hand,  through  the 
world,  went  the  German  manufacturer  and  the  German 
bank — the  one  discovering  opportunities,  the  other  ex- 
ploiting them. 

The  German  banks  are  closely  linked  with  one  an- 
other, and  all  are  in  turn  closely  allied  to  the  Reicha- 
bank  (Imperial  Bank).  Owing  to  its  intimate  relation 
with  the  Reichsbank,  the  German  Government  can  thus 
bring  its  influence  to  bear  upon  the  whole  structure  of 
German  commerce  and  industry. 

It  is  through  the  banking  system  that  the  Wilhelm- 
strasse  plays  Finanzpolitik,  the  policy  of  national  and 
international  politics  which,  backed  up  by  the  cannon, 
made  the  world  tremble  several  times  on  the  brink  of 
war  in  advance  of  The  Day.  The  building  of  the 
Baghdad  Railway  is  a  case  in  point. 

The  German  Government  is,  in  short,  a  gigantic 
Trust  which  seeks  to  increase  Germany's  prosperity  at 
the  expense  of  the  rest  of  the  world.  Under  our  own 
system,  which  has  bred  individual  liberty,  government 
control  has  been  kept  in  the  background.  Had  our 
trusts  an  alliance  with  a  business  government  developed 
for  the  benefit  of  the  people  we  should  have  in  America 
just  what  we  need  in  the  modem  world  of  competitive 
"big  business."  As  it  was,  they  developed  evils  which 
led  to  the  Sherman  Anti-trust  Act. 

In  Germany,  where  the  degree  of  individual  liberty 


58    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

is  little,  and  govemment  control  correspondingly  great, 
the  German  syndicates  have  not  been  curbed  by  the 
State  but  taken  into  partnership  with  it  to  exploit  the 
outside  world  for  the  benefit  of  Germany.  Every  at- 
tempt by  these  syndicates  to  control  foreign  markets  haa 
been  welcomed  in  the  Fatherland.  One  aim  has  been  to 
regularise  the  prices  of  things  at  home  with  conse- 
quent steady  work  and  contentment  to  the  German  peo- 
ple, and  to  accomplish  just  the  opposite  abroad  by  caus- 
ing prices  to  fluctuate.  The  device  by  which  this  is 
accomplished,  is  "dumping,"  a  device  which  Germany 
has  practised  most  successfully  upon  Great  Britain  be- 
cause of  that  nation's  open-door  trade  policy.  At  first 
the  British  public  would  welcome  the  "dumped"  goods 
because  they  could  be  bought  more  cheaply  than  those 
of  their  own' manufacture.  The  profits  at  home  would 
enable  the  Germans  to  sell  cheaply  among  the  economic 
enemy  until  the  British  manufacturer  was  financially 
killed.  Then  the  Germans  would  gradually  increase  the 
prices  until  the  British  consumer  was  paying  as  much, 
if  not  more,  than  he  did  originally,  with  the  added 
disadvantage  of  the  throwing  out  of  employment  of 
British  workmen.  Should  some  British  manufacturer, 
tempted  by  the  restored  price,  attempt  to  start  up  the 
business  again,  the  Germans  would  "dump"  once  more 
and  knock  him  out  before  he  could  get  on  his  feet. 

These  practical  aspects  of  the  German  Government 
have  securely  entrenched  it  in  the  hearts  of  the  people, 
who  take  kindly  to  a  system  which  does  something  for 
them  in  "doing"  the  rest  of  the  world.  German  profes- 
sors endeavour  to  imbue  the  people,  unto  the  humblest, 
with  the  spirit  of  Der  Staat  hist  du.  (You  are  the 
State.)     In  the  fourth  year  of  the  war,  the  prominent 


HOW  THE  GERMANS  ARE  GOVERNED  59 

Socialist,  Dr.  Paul  Lensch,  advocating  a  continuance 
of  the  system  on  the  ground  of  practical  economics 
which  benefits  the  whole  country,  wrote: 

"The  fight  for  the  world  market  and  the  money 
market  was  conducted  more  and  more  with  the  re- 
sources of  the  organised  power  of  the  State.  German 
diplomacy  was  at  every  moment  at  the  service  of  Ger- 
man finance,  and  this  help  was  all  the  more  powerful 
the  greater  became  the  power  of  the  State  which  stood 
behind  German  diplomacy.  A  strong  navy  and  a  ready 
army  in  the  background  were  a  precious  support  in  the 
fight  for  the  world  market  and  for  the  division  of  the 
still  'unowned'  remains  of  the  earth's  surface." 

There  are  some  people  in  England  and  the  United 
States  who  maintain  that  we  have  no  right  to  interfere 
with  the  domestic  affairs  of  another  country.  Ordinar- 
ily, we  should  not  have.  But  when  millions  of  indus- 
trially-efficient human  ants,  in  blind  obedience,  un- 
questionably support  a  set  of  unscrupulously  ambitious 
leaders,  it  is  our  duty  to  interfere  in  self-defense. 

While  we  may  generously  admire  much  of  what  the 
system  has  accomplished  materially  for  Germany,  and 
at  the  same  time  merely  shrug  our  shoulders  if  it  has 
made  the  German  a  machine  cog  instead  of  an  individ- 
ual, we  can  no  longer  remain  indifferent  if  the  machine 
cog  is  part  of  a  weapon  aimed  at  our  destruction. 

Such  will  be  the  role  of  the  German  citizen  until 
the  Imperial  Constitution  is  so  completely  altered  that 
even  Bismarck  would  not  recognise  it.  Under  it  all 
German  soldiers  take  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  Kaiser, 
and  they  have  been  reared  from  babyhood,  not  only  to 


6o    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

obey  him,  but  to  revere  him.  The  Constitution  gives 
him,  furthermore,  the  sole  power  to  make  peace.  But 
vre  say  that  it  is  useless  to  make  peace  with  him.  So 
it  is. 


CHAPTER  in 

THE  PHONOGEAPH  MAIT 

AMONG  Germany's  scientific  accomplislunents  dur- 
ing the  war  is  the  "Phonograph  Man."  Wher- 
ever I  went  my  ears  were  assailed  by  the  same  stock 
ideas  reeled  off  in  the  same  words  and  accompanied  by 
the  same  gestures.  It  was  as  if  Germans  had  been 
provided  with  an  assortment  of  carefully-censored  rec- 
ords and  were  incapable  of  doing  anything  except  re- 
peat them. 

I  could  detect  changes  in  some  quarters  after  the  first 
year  and  a  half  of  the  war,  but  up  to  that  time,  if  I 
asked  a  Prussian  what  he  thought  of  things,  his  machin- 
ery would  begin  to  purr  and  presently  he  would  emit  a 
raucous,  "We  Germans  fear  nothing."  South  in  Ba- 
varia, I  always  got  the  whole  Bismarckian  "tag,"  per- 
haps because  King  Ludwig  had  repeated  it  for  the 
Press  and  the  post-card  makers  of  German  war  heroes, 
"We  Germans  fear  God,  but  nothing  else  in  the  world." 

Under  peculiar  circumstances  I  had  a  conversation 
with  Herr  Ulrich,  a  promoter  of  the  Deutsche  Bank's 
oil  interests  in  Poumania,  when  we  happened  to  travel 
together  in  February,  1915,  from  Budapest  to  Bucha- 
rest. Owing  to  the  impressive  nature  of  our  meeting 
and  to  the  fact  that  after  I  arrived  in  Roumania  I  com- 
pleted my  diary  of  the  journey,  I  can  accurately  repro- 
duce the  conversation,  which,  in  view  of  subsequent 
events,  is  enlightening. 

61 


62     THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

The  night  before  I  met  Herr  TJlrich  I  was  told  by 
a  reliable  and  well-informed  friend  in  Budapest  that  I 
should  get  out  of  the  country  if  possible.  The  "if 
possible"  part  of  his  remark  was  not  at  all  reassuring. 

It  so  happens  that  in  the  first  autumn  of  the  war, 
while  absurd  and  dangerous  ideas  were  being  fed  to 
the  British  public  to  the  effect  that  food  shortage  was 
causing  bread  riots  in  Berlin,  and  that  the  military 
losses  were  so  enormous  that  old  men  and  boys  were 
being  dragooned  to  the  colours,  I  wrote  a  series  of  ten 
articles  for  the  London  Daily  Mail,  recording  the  sim- 
ple truth  about  conditions  in  Germany.  This  was  so 
complimentary  to  German  strength  and  efficiency  that 
the  Cologne  Gazette  and  other  German  newspapers 
^'featured"  the  articles  in  reproduction  together  with 
praise  for  the  fairness  of  the  anonymous  writer. 

Unfortunately  for  him,  however,  the  idea  dawned  in 
the  brain  of  some  German  official  in  the  Foreign  News- 
Sifting  Department  in  the  Wilhelmstrasse,  76,  that 
these  articles  were  "featured"  in  London  not  to  praise 
Germany,  but  to  wake  up  England  to  the  effort  neces- 
sary to  win.  Consequently,  a  new  "official  attitude" — 
and  the  Press  of  the  Central  Powers  was  informed 
"that  the  writer's  knowledge  of  Germany  was  suffi- 
ciently accurate  to  make  it  desirable  that  he  be  re- 
strained from  further  activities  if  caught."  In  fact, 
one  of  the  Budapest  papers  suggested  that  he  be  shot 

Under  my  own  name,  J  had  written  an  article  about 
Alsace-Lorraine  for  America  similar  to  one  I  had  writ- 
ten in  my  series  in  London  anonymously.  This,  I  was 
told,  was  a  dangerous  link  against  me,  which  was  still 
being  investigated. 


THE  PHONOGRAPH  MAN  63 

The  tightening  frontier  regulations  were  still  loose 
compared  with  their  later  development  to  the  acid  bath 
stage.  At  seven  o'clock  that  memorable  February  even- 
ing, I  decided  to  make  a  dash  from  Budapest  and,  for 
excellent  personal  reasons,  decided  to  cross  the  most  dis- 
tant frontier,  namely,  that  of  Roumania.  So,  after  ac- 
quainting my  hotel  management  with  the  information 
that  I  was  going  to  Vienna  on  the  nine-thirty  train,  I 
took  the  nine-thirty-five  train  in  the  opposite  direction 
back  eastward  across  the  plain  of  Hungary. 

I  somehow  felt  lonesome  for  a  friend  as  I  sat  in  my 
sleeping  compartment,  so  I  pressed  a  friendly  button 
which  resulted  in  a  knock  at  the  door,  which  was  opened 
to  reveal  the  amiable  countenance  of  the  conductor,  who, 
under  the  European  wagon-lits  system,  collects  tickets, 
makes  and  unmakes  beds,  dispenses  drinks,  and  in  his 
spare  time  receives  tips.  I  ordered  and  took  the  occa- 
sion to  give  him  a  noticeably  large  one — though  not 
large  enough  to  attract  undue  attention — along  with  the 
casual  information  that  I  was  an  American  bound  for 
a  short  business-trip  to  Roumania. 

ISText  morning  the  train  stopped  suddenly.  When  I 
looked  out  the  window  I  saw  that  we  were  on  the  broad 
cattle  plain  with  no  station  in  sight.  I  suspected  the 
reason  for  the  stop,  which  caused  me  to  dress  quickly. 
The  door  opened  to  admit  two  Hungarian  gendarmes, 
complete  in  uniform  of  green,  hat  with  feathers,  the 
usual  sabre  on  the  left  side,  revolver  on  the  right  hip, 
and  bayoneted  rifle  slung  over  the  shoulder  completing 
the  travelling  arsenals  effect. 

As  an  introduction  to  conversation,  they  twirled 
their  moustaches  after  immemorial  custom,  and  asked 
me  for  my  papers.     These  seemed  all  right,  and  they 


f>4.    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

were  about  to  pass  on  to  inspect  other  passengers  when 
they  began  to  debate  the  probability  of  me  being  an 
Englishman  and  the  advisability  of  taking  me  off  the 
train  for  examination  by  superior  officers — something 
I  was  anxious  to  avoid.  Then  came  the  grain  of  sand 
that  turned  the  scales,  in  the  person  of  the  factotum 
conductor  who  broke  into  their  conversation  about  me 
with  the  assurance  that  he  knew  me,  and  that  I  was  all 
right.  Thus  had  my  investment  of  the  night  before 
blessed  me  a  thousandfold. 

The  train  rolled  on,  and  I  stepped  back  on  the  rear 
platform  to  readjust  my  nerves  in  the  fresh  air.  An 
intellectual,  neatly-dressed  German  of  middle  age  who 
was  standing  there,  looked  me  over  deliberately  from 
head  to  foot  and  then  introduced  conversation  in  the 
interesting,  if  somewhat  abrupt  manner  of:  "I  do 
not  like  you."  And  although  clearly  a  German,  he 
made  the  remark  in  excellent  English. 

I  apologised  for  my  personal  appearance,  whereupon 
he  replied,  "It  is  not  entirely  that — only  so  far  as  it 
shows  that  you  are  American.  I  hate  you,  because  I 
hate  America,"  he  continued  rather  frankly. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances,  bitter  language  might 
have  gushed  on  both  sides ;  but  in  my  dread  of  the  fron- 
tier ordeal  before  me  that  night  I  found  the  stranger's 
frankness  such  an  antidote  that  I  forgot  my  troubles 
and  liked  him.  I  even  invited  him  to  breakfast,  dur- 
ing which  he  became  more  affable  toward  me  person- 
ally while  he  explained  the  war. 

He  showed  renewed  interest  when  I  confided  to  him 
that  I  was  an  American  journalist.  He  returned  the 
information  that  he  was  Herr  Ulrich,  prominent  in  the 
management  of  oil  interests  backed  by  the  Deutsche 


THE  PHONOGRAPH  MAN  65 

Bank.  He  insisted  that  his  war-opinions  were  those 
of  tens  of  millions  of  his  countrymen.  I  soon  saw  that 
he  was  right,  and  all  day  long  I  got  government  records 
from  the  Phonograph  Man. 

Herr  Ulrich,  gazing  out  at  the  train  window,  began  a 
record  which  was  then  almost  new,  but  rapidly  becom- 
ing popular:  "Belgium,"  he  said,  "has  cost  a  lot  of 
money  and  a  lot  of  blood.  Indeed,  she  has  cost  so 
much  money  and  so  much  blood  that  we  can  not  ever 
consent  to  give  her  up." 

"By  a  parity  of  reasoning,"  I  reflected, — ^but,  mind- 
ful of  the  frontier,  kept  my  reflections  to  myself, — "a 
burglar  who  received  some  hard  knocks  in  the  practice 
of  his  profession  should  be  entitled  to  compensation 
from  the  unkilled  members  of  the  home  which  he  had 
burglarised." 

"Besides,  in  the  end  it  will  not  be  so  bad  for  the  Bel- 
gians; for  we  Germans  can  make  many  improvements 
there,"  he  continued. 

I  asked  Herr  Ulrich  if  he  was  certain  of  victory. 

"Jn  from  three  to  six  months,"  he  replied. 

^'What  about  England  ?"  I  enquired.  "They  say  she 
has  a  pretty  stout  army  yet  to  go  into  the  field." 

"Pooh!"  said  Ulrich.  "That's  English  blufl.  We 
know  that  for  all  their  drumming  and  advertising.  Kit- 
chener can  not  get  men,  and  the  English  won't  tolerate 
conscription.  They  could  not  get  the  men  voluntarily, 
and  now  it  is  too  late  to  get  them  in  any  other  way. 
Suppose  even  that  they  could  get  men !  What  of  their 
officers  ?  We  know  how  long  it  takes  to  train  an  officer. 
They  don't.  Furthermore,  they  would  have  no  equip- 
ment for  their  men,  and  if  they  had,  where  are  their 
Casemen  (barracks)  ?    It  has  taken  us  years  to  develop 


66    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

all  these.  But  why  discuss  such  matters? — since  Eng- 
land can  not  get  men." 

After  these  observations,  he  settled  back  in  the  cor- 
ner of  his  compartment,  where  I  joined  him,  extracted 
a  leather  case  of  cigars  from  his  pocket,  selected  one, 
folded  the  case  and  put  it  back.  Between  puffs,  he  re- 
marked with  satisfaction:  "Besides,  the  English  do 
not  know  what  we  have  in  hand.  There  are  some  colos- 
sal surprises.     Kolossal!" 

This,  of  course,  switched  the  conversation  to  the  sub* 
marine  blockade  which  had  just  been  inaugurated — 
Germany's  newest  and  greatest  fetish  since  her  armies 
dug  into  position-warfare — worshipped  with  overween- 
ing pride  by  Germans,  and  something  like  a  genial 
envy  by  Austrians.  At  that  stage  of  the  war  it  appeared 
to  me  that  even  the  phonograph  men  took  pride  in  try- 
ing to  invent  obvious  exaggerations  about  the  effects  of 
the  submarine  warfare.  It  was  the  great  "surprise" — 
the  overwhelming  and  unanswerable  naval  argument 
which  the  Germans  had  kept  up  their  sleeves. 

"England  has  boasted  that  she  is  mistress  of  the  seas. 
We  Germans  do  not  boast.  We  quietly  prepare  and 
unexpectedly  strike.  England,  Mistress  of  the  Seas!" 
he  scoffed.  "Why,  we  have  bottled  up  her  navy  with 
our  submarines,  blockaded  her  ports,  and  are  fast  caus- 
ing her  flag  to  disappear  from  every  ocean." 

This  little  speech,  with  variations,  made  a  popular 
record  which  all  Germans  were  playing  whose  easily 
recognised  "tag"  was,  "The  English  flags  have  disap- 
peared from  the  seas."  'No  collection  of  government- 
canned  conversation  was  complete  without  it. 

After  luncheon,  we  began  to  discuss  France,  and  then 
Herr  Tllrich  showed  unconsciously  how  hopelessly  in- 


THE  PHONOGRAPH  MAN  67 

consistent  is  the  phonographic  conception  of  the  world 
at  war.  Before  luncheon  he  had  told  me  that  Kitchener 
could  not  scrape  more  than  a  million  men  by  any 
means ;  now  he  asserted  that  the  French  had  been  ready 
to  make  peace  some  months  ago  but  that  England  had 
threatened  to  bombard  her  ports  if  she  did.  The 
French  were  fighting  bravely — so  much  he  was  willing 
to  admit — but,  poor  devils !  they  had  no  choice. 

"The  real  secret  of  France's  failure  to  make  peace," 
he  gravely  assured  me,  "was  that  all  along  behind  the 
French  front  are  drawn  np  lines  of  English  troops, 
whose  presence  is  a  constant  threat  to  the  French  if 
they  should  attempt  to  give  way." 

It  is  clear,  of  course,  that  Herr  TJlrich  had  got  two 
records  mixed,  somehow,  because  the  authorities  of  the 
Press  Bureau  who  originate  all  these  records,  would 
not  have  been  quite  so  inconsistent. 

^Nevertheless,  what  he  had  said  about  France  con- 
tinuing the  war  on  England's  account,  absurd  and 
trivial  as  it  may  seem,  was  part  of  that  famous  record, 
labelled,  "England  will  fight  to  the  last  Frenchman,"  a 
record  which  echoed  across  the  lines  through  bleeding 
France  where  it  was  played  in  variant  keys  by  Bolo 
and  the  other  traitors  who  accepted  the  gold  that  pays 
the  invisible  army  of  the  Fatherland. 

I  was  wondering  how  soon  the  American  end  of  the 
blockade  business  would  creep  into  the  conversation.  It 
came  in  the  late  afternoon,  after  we  had  watched  the 
castellated  hill  near  Segesvar  pass  slowly  from  sight 
amid  the  windings  of  the  train. 

"A  new  kind  of  war  has  made  a  new  kind  of  law," 
Herr  Ulrich  began.     He  had  just  found  the  "tag"  in 


68    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

a  copy  of  the  Vienna  Reichspost  and  was  adding  it  to 
his  collection. 

"Germany  gave  fair  warning,"  he  continued.  "N"o 
other  nation  would  have  done  that.  Therefore,  no  one 
can  complain.  As  for  America,  if  she  wants  to  avoid 
trouble,  she  need  only  keep  her  ships  out  of  European 
waters.  As  for  her  citizens,  they  have  no  legitimate 
reason  to  be  travelling  now  in  Europe.  Europe  is  at 
war.  Besides,  this  war  is  tremendously  profitable  to 
America." 

Ah,  how  many  times  had  I  already  heard  this  last 
record !  How  many  times  was  I  still  to  hear  it !  J  for- 
got the  frontier  troubles  and  waxed  sarcastic.  "Sure !" 
I  observed.     "That  is  why  America  started  the  war!" 

But  sarcasm  is  buttoned  foil  to  the  impervious  Ger- 
man.    Herr  TJlrich  merely  stared  compassionately. 

"What  would  you  do  if  we  sank  one  of  your  ships  ?" 
he  demanded. 

*'Ask  for  compensation,"  I  replied. 

"But  suppose  we  sank  the  American  crew?"  he  en- 
quired. 

"Well,  I  suppose  we  should  have  to " 

"Have  to  fight  us  ?  Well,  the  more  enemies,  the  more 
glory." 

Herr  Ulrich  positively  swelled  with  pride,  as  he  got 
off  this  ancient  "tag"  of  the  first  August  of  the  war. 

"All  the  same,  I  will  tell  you  why  you  will  not  fight. 
You  see,  I  know  your  country  just  as  I  know  Eng- 
land. I  have  even  had  the  pleasure  of  visiting  your 
ship-yards.  Did  you  ever  go  aboard  one  of  your  Amer- 
ican submarines  and  inspect  it  thoroughly  ?" 

I  confessed  that  my  pre-war  education  had  been  ne- 
glected in  that  line.    J  could  only  drag  up  the  historical 


THE  PHONOGRAPH  MAN  69 

bit  of  information  that  the  submarine  was  an  Amer- 
ican invention. 

Herr  Ulrich  appeared  to  overlook  the  second  part  of 
my  answer.  "Just  think !  you  are  an  American,  I  am 
a  German ;  and  I  have  been  on  one  of  your  submarines, 
and  you  have  not.  We  Germans  know  England  better 
than  the  English,  Russia  better  than  the  Russians ;  and 
certainly  we  know  Russia  better  than  her  allies  know 
her.  In  Bucharest,  to-morrow,  where  I  attend  a  very 
important  meeting  at  our  Legation,  I  expect  to  learn 
new  comforting  things  about  Russia.  I  smile  when  I 
read  English,  French  and  American  papers  which  tell 
of  how  the  great  'steam-roller'  from  the  East  will  crush 
us.  You  are  all  ignorant  of  Russia.  You  are  espe^ 
cially  ignorant  in  America  where  size  and  bulk  are  the 
basis  of  all  your  judgment.  The  Russian  Empire  is 
vast  on  the  map,  and  Russia,  has  a  hundred  and  seventy 
millions ;  therefore,  you  in  your  ignorance  believe  Rus- 
sia correspondingly  powerful.  We,  in  our  intelligence, 
know  that  Russia  is  a  colossiis  stuffed  with  straw,  as 
von  Ehrenthals  long  ago  remarked. 

"As  for  Erance,  at  the  outbreak  of  war,  our  maps 
of  that  country  were  more  up-to-date  than  those  of  the 
French.  So,  too,  do  we  know  America  better  than  do 
the  Americans.  That  is  why  I  can  so  calmly  assure  yon 
that  you  will  not  fight.  You  cannot  fight,  for  your 
country  is  composed  of  not  enough  soldiers  and  of  too 
many  Germans." 

And  Herr  Ulrich's  trace  of  a  smile  seemed  to  betoken 
compassion  for  a  helpless  citizen  of  a  helpless  repub- 
lic. 

The  train  curved  sharply;  and  through  the  carriage 
window  we  saw  against  the  cold  winter  sunset  a  hill 


70    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

rise  abruptly  from  the  plain, — a  hill  topped  with  old 
walls  of  yellowish-grey  and  back  of  it  a  higher  pine- 
clad  hill  which  frowned  like  a  sentinel  across  the  track. 
Cradled  amid  these  slopes  was  Brasso — or  Kronstadt, 
as  the  Germans  call  it, — but  which  the  Hungarians  re- 
fuse to  call  it.  |It  is  the  last  important  town  of  Hun- 
gary. 

Herr  Ulrich  began  to  collect  his  baggage. 

"You  would  do  much  better  to  stop  off  at  Kronstadt," 
he  said.  "You  will  find  accommodations  greatly  supe- 
rior to  those  at  Predial.  Moreover,  there  are  several 
thousand  good  old  German  inhabitants  of  the  city,  and 
they  create  an  atmosphere  which  improves  these  stupid 
Hungarian  towns.  At  Predial  you  will  find  noth- 
ing but  Hungarian-Roumanian  mountaineers — disagree- 
able folks,  both  of  them." 

Although  he  was  speaking  English,  I  felt  his  remarks 
to  be  rather  tactless  in  view  of  the  fact  that  a  Hungarian 
who  had  passed  back  and  forth  in  the  corridor  several 
times  during  the  afternoon,  had  now  paused  outside 
our  compartment.  Perhaps  he  did  not  understand  Eng- 
lish, but  his  appearance  bespoke  an  education  which 
made  me  regret  my  German  companion's  disparagement 
of  a  country  which  I  had  often  found  full  of  charm. 

I  knew  the  region  even  more  intimately  than  did 
Herr  TJlrich.  I  had  tramped  it  all  in  every  direction 
from  Brasso,  and  I  knew  the  trails  through  the  moun- 
tain passes  leading  into  Koumania  eighteen  miles  ahead 
so  thoroughly,  that,  in  my  anxiety,  now  that  the  ordeal 
of  crossing  the  frontier  was  at  hand,  I  seriously  thought 
of  getting  off  at  Brasso  and  taking  my  chances  on 
foot.  I  reflected,  however,  that  it  was  Germany  who 
was  investigating  me,  and  that  her  co-ordination  with 


THE  PHONOGRAPH  MAN  71 

distant  Hungarian-Roumanian  frontiers  might  be  fa- 
vourably loose;  so  I  resolved  to  stick  to  tbe  train  and 
"Smile,  smile,  smile." 

J  stepped  on  to  the  platform,  and  chatted  with  Herr 
Ulrich  a  few  moments.  Then,  when  I  turned  back,  I 
saw  a  man  who  clearly  recognised  me  jump  down  to 
meet  me.  He  smiled  pleasantly  and  held  out  his  hand. 
He  was  an  oflScer  of  the  border  patrol,  with  whom  I  had 
become  friendly  in  days  gone  by.  We  were  glad  to 
see  each  other  again,  and  talked  like  long-lost  brothers 
while  the  train,  with  two  engines,  twisted  up  the  Predial 
Pass, — the  pass  over  which  Palkenhayn  later  forced  his 
way  down  to  the  oil  fields  of  Roumania. 

As  a  matter  of  form,  my  friend  told  that  he  would 
look  at  my  passport.  He  did  so,  and  returned  it  to 
me. 

"I  wonder  if  you  could  do  something  for  me  at  the 
American  Legation  in  Bucharest?"  he  asked. 

I  told  him  that  I  should  be  very  glad  to,  if  it  were 
something  quite  in  order. 

He  explained  that  he  would  like  the  investigation  of 
a  dear  friend  who  was  a  prisoner  in  Serbia.  He  said 
that  he  had  written  several  times  to  the  Legation,  but 
the  matter  was  still  pending.  I  promptly  assured  him 
that  I  would  give  the  affair  my  attention  immediately 
upon  my  arrival  at  Bucharest.  Therefore,  the  quicker 
I  got  there,  the  better  for  both  of  us.  He  then  wrote 
down  his  friend's  name  and  some  data  concerning  him. 

I  put  this  carefully  in  my  pocket,  then  casually  re- 
marked, "|I  hope,  in  their  frontier  zeal,  your  examin- 
ing officer  will  not  insist  on  keeping  this." 

He  smiled.  "I  will  see  that  you  are  quickly  trans- 
ported across  the  frontier,"  he  said.    "You  will  remem- 


72    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

ber,"  he  continued,  "that  half  of  the  station  at  Predial 
is  in  Hungary  and  half  in  Roumania." 

He  then  passed  along  to  continue  his  inspection  of  the 
train. 

The  night  now  gathering  in  the  valleys  was  climbing 
slowly  to  the  mountain  tops,  while  on  the  rough  high- 
way that  paralleled  the  track,  long  lines  of  bullock- 
carts  were  blending  with  the  shadows — carts  drawn 
up  to  the  frontier  to  bring  back  the  goods  smuggled  from 
the  Roumanian  side. 

When  my  officer  friend  returned  from  his  inspection 
of  the  train  he  told  me  that  if  I  would  give  him  my 
passport  he  would  have  it  quickly  viseed,  would  see  that 
my  baggage  was  promptly  examined  and  would  per- 
sonally conduct  me  to  the  Roumanian  half  of  the  sta- 
tion. 

The  train  stopped.  I  steeled  myself  for  the  ordeal 
which  did  not  come;  for  my  friend  kept  his  word,  and 
within  three  minutes  I  stood  alone,  across  the  barrier, 
in  Roumania.  Of  course  he  could  only  take  me  out  of 
Hungary,  after  which  I  had  to  undergo  the  Roumanian 
examination.  But  my  heart  was  light  as  I  looked  back 
at  the  enemy's  side,  where  a  concourse  of  Germans, 
Austrians,  Hungarians  and  Roumanians  were  in  the 
throes  of  rigorous  investigation. 

The  first  person  I  encountered  in  the  Predial- 
Bucharest  express  next  morning,  was  Herr  TJlrich, 
whose  appearance  suggested  a  restless  night. 

"My  meeting  with  you  yesterday,"  he  began  abrupt- 
ly, "proved  most  unfortunate.  Indeed,  it  nearly 
wrecked  my  very  important  meeting  at  our  Legation 
in  Bucharest.    You  got  me  into  trouble." 

Before  ^L  could  express  solicitude  and  ask  him  how 


THE  PHONOGRAPH  MAN  73 

on  earth  I  could  have  got  him  into  trouble,  he  snapped : 

"Did  you  have  great  difficulties  at  the  frontier  ?" 

My  innocent  reply  that  I  had  found  officialdom  most 
delightful,  seemed  to  increase  his  anger. 

"Do  you  remember  that  we  spoke  English  all  day 
yesterday?"  he  blurted  out. 

I  did. 

"Do  you  remember  that  damned  Hungarian?" — • 
(He  pronounced  it  dam — ned,  with  two  syllables,  as  in 
Shakespeare  courses  at  college.)  "The  one  standing 
outside  the  door  when  we  neared  Kronstadt  ?" 

I  remembered  the  gentleman. 

"He  was  a  detective !"  cried  Herr  IJlrich.  "A  stupid 
Hungarian  detective.  Because  we  talked  English,  his 
suspicions  were  aroused;  and,  do  you  know — it  was  I 
whom  he  suspected!  You  are  an  American,  virtually 
an  enemy;  I  am  a  German  and  an  ally.  Yet  I  was 
held,  and  you  went  free !" 

"It  does  seem  rather  weird!"  I  agreed  sympathetic- 
ally. 

"Perhaps  from  this  you  may  better  realise  the  great- 
ness of  Germany.  We  have  to  supply  the  brains  for 
Austria-Hungary  as  well  as  for  ourselves " 

Herr  Ulrich  paused  in  his  tirade  to  get  his  breath, 
which  afforded  me  an  opportunity  to  ask:  "But  you 
had  papers,  did  you  not,  to  verify  yourself?  Your 
trouble  must  have  been  of  very  brief  duration !" 

"I  did  have  papers,"  he  began  with  vigour,  "and  my 
trouble  was  not  of  brief  duration. 

"When  I  saw  that  they  meant  business,  I  told  them 
they  could  telegraph  to  Berlin  and  verify  me.  They 
said  that,  owing  to  military  operations,  the  telegraph 
lines  would  be  closed  for  non-essential  messages  for 


74    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

forty-eight  hours,  and  that  they  would  write.  I  was 
filled  with  horror  at  the  thought  their  insanity  might 
prevent  me  reaching  Bucharest  in  time.  Then  I 
thought  of  you !" 

I  expressed  my  appreciation  by  bowing  slightly. 

*'What  about  that  American  who  was  with  me?"  I 
asked  them.  "Why  haven't  you  arrested  him?  They 
told  me  that  you  were  in  excellent  standing  with  the 
frontier  police,  as  witnessed  by  the  detective  when  we 
got  off  the  train  at  Kronstadt.  They  insisted  further 
that  the  detective  was  excellent  in  his  profession,  and 
that  your  accent  clearly  showed  you  were  an  Amer- 
ican, but  that  my  command  of  English  was  perfect, 
and  my  accent  unmistakably  English." 

At  which  Herr  TJlrich  paused,  his  anger  seeming  to 
evaporate  as  he  let  his  thoughts  linger  over  this  Hun- 
garian tribute  to  his  mastery  of  a  foreign  tongue.  "My 
English  is  very  good,  don't  you  think  so?"  he  inter- 
polated. 

I  could  honestly  agree  that  it  was  flawless. 

"But  I  am  persistent.  Persistency  is  a  German 
trait,"  he  explained.  "I  pressed  the  matter  of  the  im- 
portance of  my  business,  and  when  I  seemed  to  be  win- 
ning, I  was  struck  with  a  brilliant  idea  and  made  use 
of  the  fact  that  you  were  in  the  good  graces  of  the 
frontier  guards.  Therefore  I  stretched  a  point  upon 
our  short  acquaintance  and  insisted  that  I  was  a  very 
good  friend  of  yours,  and  that  inasmuch  as  you  were 
declared  all  right,  I  must  be  all  right.  This  may  seem 
to  you  an  absurd  argument  for  me  to  introduce,  but  one 
is  likely  to  do  anything  when  desperate.  At  seven 
o'clock  they  told  me  I  could  go  to  my  hotel.  I  did  so 
and  tried  to  eat,  but  the  horrible  thought  that  I  might 


THE  PHONOGRAPH  MAN  75 

miss  the  Legation  meeting  took  away  my  appetite.  I 
tried  to  read,  but  my  eyes  wandered  from  the  pages. 
Then  I  went  to  bed,  but  could  not  sleep.  I  turned  and 
tossed  all  night.  At  five  I  began  to  dress,  feeling  very 
nervous  at  the  thought  that  the  train  on  which  I  should 
ride  would  be  leaving  at  six-forty.  There  was  a  knock 
on  my  door,  and  the  portier  entered  with  an  official 
message.  I  tore  it  open,  and  to  my  joy  saw  that  it  wa3 
the  permission  to  depart.  The  portier  told  me  that  it 
had  been  given  him  at  eleven  the  night  before  with  in- 
structions to  deliver  it  at  five-thirty  in  the  morning. 
However,  'All's  Well  that  Ends  Well !'  And  I  am  glad 
to  be  here.  But  I  have  had  little  rest  since  we  parted 
back  in  Kronstadt." 

Wliereupon  Herr  Ulrich  settled  back  in  the  cushions 
and  sighed  again. 

I  might  have  ventured  my  opinion  that  these  very 
astute  Hungarians  had  resolved  to  make  him  uncom- 
fortable— in  order  to  get  even  with  him  for  his  uncom- 
plimentary remarks  to  me  in  the  train  about  everything 
Hungarian.  I  refrained  from  doing  so,  however,  since 
I  felt  that  it  might  temporarily  blunt  his  frank  expres- 
sions of  his  opinions  of  other  countries,  including  my 
own. 

He  became  interested  again  after  the  train  had  com- 
pleted the  grinding  journey  down  the  mountains  and 
came  in  sight  of  the  towering  steel  skeletons  that  marked 
the  oil  fields  of  the'  plain. 

"We  Germans  have  great  interests  here,"  he  began, 
then  jumped  to  the  opposite  window  to  watch  a  freight 
train  pass. 

"Do  you  see  those?"  he  cried,  excitedly.  "They  are 
all  German  cars,  and  they  are  running  on  Roumanian 


76    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

tracks,"  he  said  in  a  tone  which  clearly  showed  a  re- 
turn to  the  national  pride  form  of  the  day  before.  "We 
have  completed  a  commercial  arrangement  in  which 
Eoumania  has  agreed  to  sell  us  grain  if  we  supply  the 
cars  to  haul  it." 

And  ^  might  have  added  that  Roumania  was  mak- 
ing them  pay  through  the  nose  for  what  they  got. 

"Soon  we  shall  arrive  in  Bucharest,"  he  began  after 
a  long  pause,  "where  we  part,  and  I  have  been  reflect- 
ing that  I  should  express  myself  frankly  to  you.  I  gave 
you  some  German  war  opinions  yesterday.  They  are 
not  confidential,  and  they  are  not  simply  mine;  but 
again  I  repeat  they  are  the  opinions  of  millions  of  my 
fellow-countrymen.  I  wish  to  add  something,  for  per- 
haps there  is  still  time  for  you  and  other  American 
journalists  who  have  come  to  Germany,  to  save  your 
country.  As  I  have  already  told  you,  we  have  some 
colossal  surprises.  Why,  do  you  know  that  after  the 
war  future  generations  will  see  in  London  the  greatest 
monument  of  history — a  monument  to  German  science 
and  German  victory?" 

"Will  it  be  more  colossal  than  the  N^ational  Denk- 
mal  on  the  Ehine,  or  the  mammoth  statue  of  Bismarck 
in  Hamburg?"  I  innocently  asked. 

"It  will  be  different,"  Herr  Ulrich  explained  pa- 
tiently and  gently.  "It  will  be  whole  districts  of  Lon- 
don rebuilt.  Think  of  the  effect  on  future  generations 
of  Englishmen  when  they  visit  London  and  ask  why 
some  parts  of  the  city  are  so  much  more  beautiful  and 
better  constructed  than  the  rest.  They  will  be  told  that 
this  is  because  Germans  rebuilt  the  parts  which  their 
Zeppelins  destroyed  as  a  punishment  during  the  Great 
War.     The  English  have  been  deluded.     Perhaps  even 


THE  PHONOGRAPH  MAN  77 

before  the  war  is  over,  they  may  realise  that  and  rise  in 
rebellions  anger  against  the  man  who  tricked  them, — 
Sir  Edward  Grey." 

By  this  time,  ,1  was  staring  in  blank  amazement  at 
the  man,  which  he  probably  mistook  for  wonderment 
and  admiration  on  my  part  for  Germany's  power  as  re- 
vealed by  him.     So  in  deadly  earnest  he  continued : 

"But  the  English  will  have  to  rise  quickly,  or  they 
will  be  too  late  to  save  themselves.  You  remember  I 
told  you  yesterday  that  we  shall  win  the  war  in  from 
three  to  six  months.  We  are  certain  to  do  it.  All 
Europe  will  lie  prostrate  at  our  feet — and  Egypt  too. 
Then  what  shall  we  do  ?" 

"Introduce  German  customs  after  the  manner  of 
conquerors,"  I  suggested.  "Perhaps  you  will  improve 
the  Pyramid  of  Cheops  with  a  little  summit  terrace, 
beer  garden,  and  observation  tower  ?" 

Herr  Ulrich  brushed  this  aside  with  the  cutting  re- 
mark that  it  was  a  German  custom  to  respect  and  leave 
unaltered  the  historic  treasures  of  the  enemy.  "I  fear 
you  do  not  perceive  the  natural  sequence  of  events  in 
this  war,"  he  added  somewhat  impatiently.  "Can  you 
not  see  that  after  we  have  conquered  Europe,  we  Ger- 
mans shall  be  in  a  position  to  demand  full  indemnity 
from  America  for  the  damage  she  has  caused  us  by  her 
unneutral  furnishing  of  our  enemies  with  munitions 
of  war?  That  is  what  I  mean  when  I  say  that  you 
American  journalists  should  inform  your  readers  and 
tell  them  tiiat  the  sooner  they  stop  this  unneutral  prac- 
tice, the  more  trouble  they  will  save  themselves  when 
we  are  free  to  take  up  their  case." 

We  rosejiow  to  gather  our  baggage;  for  the  brakes 
were  on  for  Bucharest.     As  we  parted  on  the  platform 


78    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

to  go  to  different  hotels,  Herr  Ulrich  bade  me  good-bye 
with:  "Remember,  we  are  disappointed  in  America. 
We  hate  her  because  we  have  reason  to  hate  her.  Do 
your  duty  while  there  is  still  time.  Tell  her  of  Ger- 
many's power  and  warn  her.     Warn  her!" 

Twenty  months  had  passed  since  that  parting  in  Bu- 
charest in  the  first  February  of  the  war,  an  occasion 
when  I  fully  believed  that  my  war-time  trips  to  see 
Germany  first-hand  were  over.  But  the  fortunes  of  war 
gave  me  a  chance  to  reshuffle  the  cards — and,  believing 
that  I  had  fijjed  things,  I  steeled  myself  for  yet  another 
frontier,  this  time  the  Dutch-German,  in  December, 
1915.  But  things  were  only  partly  fixed.  Though 
I  was  not  arrested,  I  could  not  get  out  of  Germany  for 
nearly  a  year.  Then  I  managed  to  do  so  in  a  story  al- 
ready told.* 

Before  leaving,  my  curiosity  overcame  my  prudence, 
and  I  resolved  to  seek  out  Herr  Ulrich  to  ascertain  his 
latest  war  convictions.  So  I  telephoned  him  and  ar- 
ranged an  appointment. 

Twenty  months  after  our  parting  in  Bucharest,  I 
stood  outside  his  office  door,  twenty  months  after  he 
had  told  me  to  warn  my  country  that  the  war  would 
be  over  in  from  three  to  six.  The  door  opened,  and  I 
stood  before  Herr  Ulrich,  oil  promoter  and  partner  in 
enterprise  of  the  Deutsche  Bank.  I  don't  know  why 
my  gaze  became  riveted  on  two  books  upon  his  desk. 
A  matter  of  no  consequence,  these  books — one  might 
feel !  I  am  not  so  sure.  I  saw  that  one  was  a  Russian 
grammar,  the  other  a  simple  Russian  reader.  Herr 
Ulrich  followed  my  gaze  and  expilained: 

*  "The  Land  of  Deepening  Shadow"— Chapter  XXVII. 


THE  PHONOGRAPH  MAN  79 

**!  am  a  broad-minded  man,  and  having  long  ago  per- 
fected myself  in  English,  and  French,  I  have  just  now 
taken  up  the  study  of  Russian  as  an  intellectual  diver- 
sion. I  believe  that  we  Germans  are  going  to  pay 
much  more  attention  to  the  study  of  Russian  in  our 
schools  in  the  future." 

"For  intellectual  diversion!"  I  ventured. 

"For  purposes  of  business,"  Herr  TJlrich  corrected 
simply. 

There  was  a  pause  as  I  grappled  for  a  thread  to  link 
us  with  the  past.     Herr  TJlrich  sighed. 

"When  is  this  terrible  war  going  to  end?"  he  asked 
wearily. 

Apparently  all  his  old  phonograph  records  had  been 
scrapped.  "We  Germans  want  what  we  always  wanted : 
to  live  in  peace  and  to  let  other  nations  live  in  peace. 
Do  you  never  feel  that  America  will  neglect  an  oppor- 
tunity seldom  offered  to  any  nation  if  she  does  not  act 
soon  ?" 

I  jacked  myself  up  for  another  indemnity,  but  I  was 
wrong. 

"Europe  is  torn  against  itself,"  said  Herr  TJlrich. 
"Our  enemies  should  see  that  they  can  never  defeat  us ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  they  are  so  many  that  it  is  dif- 
ficult for  us  to  conquer  them  all.  There  are  some  peo- 
ple in  England  who  would  be  willing  to  talk  peace  just 
as  we  Germans  would ;  but  perhaps  they,  like  us,  see  no 
way  to  bring  the  matter  to  a  head.  That  is  America's 
opportunity — her  golden  opportunity  for  humanity." 


War  is  the  sternest  teacher  in  the  world.   To  be  sure, 
tens  of  millions  of  Germans  continue  to  play  govern- 


8o    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

ment  records  like  phonograph  men ;  but  in  spite  of  this, 
a  few  Germans  have  begun  to  question, — ^generally  to 
themselves,  because  it  is  safer  so. 

Will  this  questioning  attitude  increase  until  some 
day,  as  the  citizens  of  Paris  marched  down  the  Boule- 
vard St.  Germain  to  storm  the  Bastille,  the  citizens  of 
Berlin  will  march  up  Unter  den  Linden  to  wreck  the 
Idea  Factory  in  the  Wilhehnstrasse  ? 

Will  the  German  people  overthrow  their  rulers? 


CHAPTER  IV 

SMOKE-CLOUDS   OF   DEMOCEACY 

IN  a  war  of  endurance,  each  side  yearns  for  revolu- 
tions among  its  enemies. 

The  overthrow  of  Czardom  in  the  spring  of  1917  by 
the  people  of  Russia  was  hailed  through  wide  circles 
among  the  Allies  as  the  forerunner  of  the  overthrow 
of  Kaiserism  by  the  people  of  Germany  and  Austria- 
Hungary.  This  idea  was  receiving  such  increasingly 
wide  credence  in  England  that  it  impelled  me  to  write 
an  article  for  the  Daily  Mail  in  April,  1917,  entitled, 
''Revolutionary  Rot  about  Germany"  in  which  I  set 
down  some  excellent  reasons  why  there  was  no  prob- 
ability of  the  Hohenzollerns  going  the  way  of  the  Roma- 
noffs for  a  considerable  time. 

About  ten  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  publication,  the 
office  boy  announced,  "A  gentleman,  sir,  with  most  ur- 
gent business."  jl  asked  the  messenger  to  find  out  what 
the  urgent  business  was ;  whereupon  he  came  back  with 
the  reply  that  it  concerned  revolution  in  Germany  and 
could  not  wait.  "Revolution  in  Germany"  being 
classed  in  the  "urgent  business"  column,  the  stranger 
was  promptly  admitted.  He  entered,  breathing  hard 
under  the  excitement  of  what  he  had  to  deliver. 

"I  am  a  frank  man,"  he  began,  "and  I  know  that 
you  will  not  take  my  criticism  unkindly.  Since  I  read 
your  article  at  breakfast,  I  have  been  able  to  think  of 

81 


82    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

nothing  else.  I  believe  that  such  an  article  is  exceed- 
ingly detrimental." 

"To  which  side?"  I  asked. 

"To  our  side — to  England,  of  course.  You  are  a 
pessimist  and  associated  with  a  pessimistic  lot  of  news- 
papers ;  and  pessimism  depresses  people." 

"On  the  contrary,"  I  replied,  "I  am  very  optimistic 
about  beating  Germany  if  we  go  at  it  in  the  right  way — 
which  is  not  the  way  of  the  ostrich."  Then  I  added 
that  the  majority  of  his  countrymen  impressed  me 
with  the  fact  that  there  were  no  people  on  earth  who 
more  desired  hard,  cold  facts  and  were  willing  to  face 
them. 

"But  about  this  German  revolution,"  he  said.  "You 
believe  that  the  German  people  will  not  revolt  this  year  ? 
Well,  |I  do !     All  the  signs  point  to  it" 

When  I  asked  him  what  these  signs  were,  he  cited 
some  recent  Reichstag  speeches  of  Social  Democrats 
which  had  been  printed  in  London  papers. 

I  admitted  that  these  speeches,  taken  in  themselves, 
did  look  very  comforting  from  our  point  of  view — then 
I  added  that  fractional  truth  could  be  misleading ;  that 
the  Germans  had  specialised  in  it,  and  the  Allies  had 
by  no  means  entirely  avoided  it. 

The  trouble  with  this  man  was  that  he  was  judging 
enemy  institutions  by  those  that  he  knew.  He  did  not 
understand  how  the  Germans  were  governed  and  the 
exact  status  of  the  Reichstag,  or  Imperial  Debating  So- 
ciety, in  that  scheme  of  Government.  He  was,  in  short, 
unmindful  of  the  thousand  differences ! 

He  was  especially  unmindful  of  the  fact — a  fact  that 
has  continued  to  exist  through  four  years  of  war,  that 
ever  since  the  people  of  Prussia  and  other  German 


i 


SMOKE-CLOUDS  OF  DEMOCRACY      8s 

states  allowed  themselves  to  be  tricked  by  promises  in 
1848  when  they  had  victory  in  their  grasp,  democracy 
has  always  given  way  to  militarism  when  a  test  arose. 

The  unconsidered  trifles  of  every-day  life  are  symp- 
tomatic of  the  texture  of  a  nation. 

One  afternoon,  in  the  third  year  of  the  war,  while 
walking  in  Charlottenburg,  I  noticed  a  soldier  ahead  of 
me  with  one  arm  missing  from  the  shoulder  and  the 
other  done  up  in  a  sling.  A  Eed  Cross  nurse  walked 
by  his  side,  for  he  was  clearly  still  weak  and  only  in- 
dulging in  a  short  respite  from  the  hospital.  They 
paused,  while  she  put  a  cigar  in  his  mouth  and  lighted  it. 

They  had  again  resumed  their  walk  when  I  noticed 
a  captain  striding  toward  us.  I  felt  sorry  for  the  man 
ahead  and  was  just  reflecting  upon  the  opportunity 
which  an  officer  would  now  have  to  show  by  a  kindly 
nod  his  appreciation  of  a  soldier's  sacrifice.  I  saw 
something  quite  the  contrary.  When  abreast  of  the 
man,  the  captain  whirled  on  him  with  an  oath,  snarling 
that  he  was  violating  a  r^ulation  of  the  German  army. 

Technically,  the  officer  was  correct  in  his  charge ;  for 
there  is  a  regulation  which  commands  privates  to  re- 
move from  their  mouths  that  which  they  are  smoking 
when  they  are  passing  an  officer.  One  might  suppose, 
however,  that  an  armless  man  should  be  a  logical  ex- 
ception to  the  rule;  but  such  a  one  would  not  be  en- 
dowed with  the  pigeon-hole  regulation  mind  which  the 
German  system  tends  to  develop. 

After  the  browbeating,  the  man  and  the  officer  con- 
tinued their  respective  ways.  Before  thirty  paces,  how- 
ever, the  rage  of  the  latter,  seething  for  an  outlet, 
caused  him  to  turn  back  sharply  to  overtake  his  victim, 
whom,  after  passing,  he  whirled  to  face.     The  victim 


84    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

stopped  abruptly ;  his  heels  clicked  sharply  together,  his 
body  became  rigid,  head  up,  eyes  straight  ahead,  while 
from  his  lips  came  the  mechanical  "Zu  Befehl,  Herr 
Hauptmanni'  (at  your  command,  Mr.  Captain).  The 
captain,  livid  with  rage,  advanced  without  a  word, 
struck  the  cigar  from  the  man's  mouth,  then  passed  on. 
The  honour  of  the  army  had  been  upheld ! 

I  learned  the  names  of  both  and  gave  full  details  to 
a  Social-Democratic  member  of  the  Reichstag  who  in- 
dignantly brought  the  matter  to  the  attention  of  the 
Ministry  of  War  with  the  demand  that  the  officer  be 
punished.  Though  the  War  Department,  "deeply  re- 
gretted the  occurrence,"  it  refused  to  censor  the  officer 
on  the  ground  that  German  military  efficiency  de- 
pended in  a  great  measure  for  its  success  upon  unques- 
tioning obedience  of  officers  and  men  to  regulations, 
which  made  it  desirable  not  to  encourage  officers  to 
make  exceptions  to  general  rules  inasmuch  as  a  rule 
would  work  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  times  out 
of  a  thousand.     Thus  the  incident  closed. 

But  another  street  incident,  this  one  in  1913,  had 
momentous  historical  consequences.  Late  in  the  au- 
tumn of  that  year,  the  forty-second  after  the  fortunes  of 
war  had  transferred  Alsace-Lorraine  to  Germany,  a 
Prussian  lieutenant,  while  marching  his  men  through 
the  Alsatian  hamlet  of  Dettweiler,  some  five  miles  from 
Zabern,  ran  after  a  group  of  civilians  who  had  laughed 
at  Prussia's  soldiery.  Overtaking  a  solitary,  panting 
straggler,  a  lame  cobbler,  the  young  officer  slashed  open 
the  side  of  the  man's  head  with  his  sabre. 

The  officer's  name  was  Lieutenant  von  Forstner. 
Some  weeks  earlier  he  had  created  a  storm  of  ill  feeling 
hy  telling  a  recruit  that  he  would  pay  him  ten  marks  if 


SMOKE-CLOUDS  OF  DEMOCRACY      85 

he  stabbed  a  wackes — wacJces  being  a  slurring  name  ap~ 
plied  to  the  Alsatians,  and  deeply  resented  by  them. 
The  citizens  of  Zabern  protested  through  the  proper 
municipal  officials,  but  the  protest  only  caused  the  sol- 
diery to  become  the  more  domineering.  Friction  grew, 
the  natives  often  laughed  during  the  passing  of  troops, 
and  Colonel  von  Renter,  contrary  to  law,  treated  the 
city  as  if  it  were  in  a  state  of  siege. 

Finally  the  colonel  sent  out  a  boy  of  nineteen,  Lieu- 
tenant Schad,  to  make  arrests.  Schad  did  so,  and  pro- 
miscuously; apprehending,  among  others,  a  civilian 
judge  and  counsel  just  leaving  court.  The  prisoners 
were  forced  into  a  coal-cellar,  and  left  there  overnight. 

In  Berlin  the  Reichstag  boiled  with  indignation ;  the 
Social  Democrats,  in  particular,  clamoured  for  the  ar^ 
rest  and  p^mishment  of  the  guilty  officers;  Germany's 
better  side  momentarily  flashed  clear  and  bright.  Civil 
anger  increased  when  General  von  Falkenhayn,  Prus- 
sian minister  of  war,  stepped  before  the  Reichstag  to 
defend  and  glorify  every  act  of  the  military.  The 
Crown  Prince  became  the  darling  of  militarism  by  his 
famous  telegram: 

"JSTur  fest  drauf  los!"     (ITow  let  them  have  it  hot !) 

Chancellor  von  Bethmann-Hollweg  see-sawed  before 
the  Reichstag  with  the  meaningless,  hedging,  Delphic 
platitudes  of  diplomacy ;  whereupon  that  body  employed 
the  new  weapon — or  rather  toy — of  censure  granted  it 
the  preceding  May,  and  passed  an  overwhelming  vote 
of  two  hundred  and  ninety-three  to  fifty-four  against 
him.  Did  that  disturb  him  in  the  least?  !N^ot  that 
anybody  has  ever  been  able  to  discover.  He  calmly 
told  the  Reichstag  that  he  was  responsible  only  to  the 


86    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Kaiser,  and  left  for  DonauescKingen  to  confer  with,  his 
master. 

The  storm  continued  and  to  the  outside  world  it  ap- 
peared as  if  Prussian  militarism  might  be  overwhelmed 
and  crushed  by  popular  disapproval.  The  great  court 
scene  was  set  in  Strassburg,  with  the  judiciary  en- 
sconced behind  a  hedge  of  spiked  helmets.  The  leit- 
motif of  the  drama  was  struck  by  the  youthful  Lieu- 
tenant Schad  when  he  addressed  the  court  as  if  it  were 
an  awkward  squad  in  a  barracks-yard. 

Why  is  this  incident  of  the  period  before  the  war  im- 
portant now?  Because  it  raised  in  Germany  a  clear- 
cut  issue  between  a  militaristic  and  a  civil  state.  The 
former  won,  the  democratic  ebullition  cooled  down ;  and 
thus,  set  in  the  affair  of  Zabern,  the  curtain  was  rung 
up  on  the  first  act  of  the  gigantic  world-struggle  between 
autocracy  and  democracy. 

In  the  following  year  came  the  war,  which  magne- 
tised parties  and  people  into  the  most  complete  unity 
ever  achieved  by  a  great  nation,  a  happy,  boastful  unity 
of  sweeping  victories,  heavy  indemnities,  and  early 
peace  to  the  united  chorus  of  "Deutschland  iiber  alles." 
But  in  1916,  under  the  stress  of  war,  cracks  began  to 
appear  in  the  unity  with  which  the  government  assid- 
uously pours  cement.  Until  then  all  parties  had  loy- 
ally supported  the  war  policy  of  the  government;  but 
the  unanimous  support  was  slightly  fractured  when 
18  members  of  the  Social  Democratic  party  withdrew 
from  the  111  who  comprised  the  party. 

Thus  of  the  397  deputies  of  the  Reichstag,  only  18 
(less  than  5  per  cent.)  have  arrayed  themselves  against 
the  policy  of  a  government  in  four  years  of  a  war  which 
began  with  the  assumption  that  Belgium  was  not  a 


SMOKE-CLOUDS  OF  DEMOCRACY       87 

country  but  a  highway — a  policy  which  has  thrown 
treaties  and  agreements  to  the  winds,  dragged  Belgians, 
Erench  and  Poles  into  slavery,  sanctions  the  sinking 
of  neutral  vessels  without  warning — a  policy  which 
has  forced  the  civilised  world  to  band  itself  together 
like  a  sheriff's  posse  to  hunt  down  a  lunatic  gunman. 

The  18  protesters,  who  constitute  the  Social  Demo- 
cratic Minority  party,  which  the  reader  must  carefully 
distinguish  from  the  93  Social  Democrats  who  consti- 
tute the  regular,  or  Majority,  party, — ^these  18,  are  now 
known  in  Germany  as  the  U-Socialists,  and  they  are  as 
generally  unpopular  as  the  U-boats  are  popular.  In 
the  first  case,  the  "U"  stands  for  unahhdngiger  (inde- 
pendent) ;  in  the  second  case,  it  stands  for  untersee 
(under  the  sea). 

The  regular  Social  Democrats  have  thus  far  allowed 
themselves  to  be  government-controlled;  indeed,  their 
"parliamentary  actions"  are  often  looked  upon  by  the 
government  as  extremely  useful  for  export  purposes. 
They  are  best  described  as  "tame"  Socialists. 

It  is  the  speeches  of  the  Social  Democratic  Minority, 
together  with  an  occasional  one  from  the  Social  Demo- 
cratic Majority,  which  make  such  pleasant  reading 
for  Germany's  enemies.  More  people  read  these 
speeches  in  England  or  in  France  or  in  the  United 
States  than  in  Germany,  where  for  the  most  part  they 
are  made  to  empty  benches,  printed  only  in  the  Social 
Democratic  newspapers  and  even  there  in  unobtrusive 
Parliamentary  type,  without  "feature"  headings,  since 
those  must  be  reserved,  as  in  all  other  German  papers, 
for  German  victories. 

Furthermore,  they  are  seldom  read  by  German  sol- 
diers, as  the  military  scissors  are  extremely  sharp  in 


88    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

deleting  anything  that  may  prove  injurious  to  the  hel- 
meted  mind. 

German  politics,  in  general,  have  developed  during 
1917  and  1918  three  currents  in  the  "German  Revolu- 
tion." Sometimes  these  are  distinct  and  again  they 
tend  to  merge.     They  are: 

1.  Revolution.  This  in  the  extreme  desire  violently 
to  overthrow  the  existing  form  of  government  and  es- 
tablish a  republic  or  a  socialistic  state.  This  current 
is  still  weak  after  four  years  of  war. 

2.  Constitutional  Reform — an  attempt  to  achieve 
this  has  been  spasmodically  made  by  a  few  Reichstag 
members  and  newspapers,  the  most  courageous  and  in- 
telligent leader  being  Theodor  Wolff,  editor  of  the  sane 
and  radical  Berliner  Tagehlatt,  a  financially  powerful 
organ  whose  liberal  utterances  cause  it  to  be  frequently 
■strafed  by  the  military  commandant  of  the  Mark  of 
Brandenburg.  Wolff  is  a  Jew,  with  ten  years'  journal- 
istic experience  in  Paris. 

Reforms  which  have  been  advocated  for  years  are: 
£rst,  the  abolition  of  the  three-class  system  of  voting 
in  Pnissia — a  reform  promised  by  the  Kaiser  in  1917 
and  successfully  fought  off  by  the  Junkers  in  1918. 
They  know  that  a  "one-man-one-vote"  system  would 
mark  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  German  feudalism. 

The  second  reform  advocated  was  the  redistribution 
of  the  Reichstag  districts  which,  constituted  in  1871, 
sacrifices  the  populous  industrial  cities,  with  their  large 
Social  Democratic  vote,  to  the  more  reactionary  agri- 
cultural districts. 

The  third  reform  is  that  of  ministerial  responsibility 
to  the  Reichstag,  i.e.,  a  building  up  of  the  triangle  based 
upon  the  people  with  the  Chancellor  at  the  apex  instead 


SMOKE-CLOUDS  OF  DEMOCRACY       89 

of  the  Chancellor  and  ministers  constituting  a  cabinet 
of  super-Germans  who  derived  their  power  from  the 
clouds  through  the  medium  of  the  Kaiser. 

3.  Peace  Terms.  This  diverse  current  did  not  exist 
in  those  happy  months  for  Germany  when  she  was 
winning  hands  down.  It  developed  chiefly  through 
the  differences  of  opinion  among  Germans  regarding 
how  much  they  could  get  from  their  enemies  and  how 
great  sacrifices  they  were  willing  to  make  in  the  get- 
ting. 

Germany's  enemies  frequently  fall  into  the  error  of 
failing  to  distinguish  these  three  currents.  Some  day 
the  dislodging  hammer  blows  of  the  Allied  armies  and 
blockaders  may  cause  these  three  disturbing  currents- 
to  rise  and  rush  together  into  a  resistless  torrent 
which  will  sweep  away  the  whole  structure  of  auto- 
cratic feudal  bureaucracy,  even  as  the  force  of  the 
sun  loosens  in  the  spring  the  snows  that  cling  to  the 
mountain  sides,  causing  little  streams  to  swell  to- 
gether into  destructive  torrents. 

In  its  early  stages,  the  Russian  revolution  produced 
fever-waves  through  Europe  which  increased  the  rest* 
lessness  of  the  people  of  Germany  and  Austria-Hun- 
gary in  their  "struggle  toward  democracy."  Indeed, 
had  the  Russian  revolution  been  more  ably  managed, 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  it  would  have  caused  an  earth- 
quake throughout  Europe  more  far-reaching  than  that 
which  radiated  from  Erance  in  1848.  Although  Rus- 
sia quickly  became  such  an  "awful  example"  that  this 
has  not  happened,  her  negotiations  with  Germany  have 
nevertheless  given  us  a  staggering  example  of  what  the 
German  Government  and  the  majority  of  the  people 


90    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

are  out  for  and  the  duplicity  lengths  which  they  will 
go  to  attain  it. 

Three  dates  stand  in  bold  relief  in  this  German 
political  calendar  of  double  dealing.  The  significance 
of  these  dates  should  be  understood  and  seared  in  the 
memory  inasmuch  as  taken  together  they  furnish  un- 
assailable proof  that  the  German  people  and  their 
chattering  representatives  in  the  Imperial  Debating 
Society  continue  to  be  children  politically.  In  a  so- 
ciety of  nations  they  form  a  creature  of  peril  with 
the  mind  of  a  baby  and  the  body  of  a  bruta 

This  metaphor  will  be  clear  if  we  examine  the  re- 
lation to  one  another  of  the  dates  of  July  19  and  ^o- 
yember  29,  1917,  and  March  4,  1918.  The  first  we 
shall  designate  Reichstag  Peace  Resolution  Day;  the 
second,  Reichstag  "Spoof  Day,"  and  the  third,  Rus- 
sian Peace  Day. 

Reduced  to  simplest  form  the  Reichstag  Peace  Res- 
olution simply  means  that  the  overwhelming  majority 
of  the  representatives  of  the  German  people  went  on 
record  to  the  world  in  favour  of  peace  without  annex- 
ations. Those  who  voted  thus  constitute  what  is  called 
in  German  political  parlance  the  Reichstag  Majority — 
which  we  must  carefully  distinguish  from  the  Social 
Democratic  Majority. 

Herr  Scheidemiann,  Leader  of  the  Social  Demo- 
cratic Majority,  said — "The  Reichstag  with  its  peace 
programme  has  invaded  the  foreign  policy  of  the  Em- 
pire and  brought  about  a  complete  defeat  of  the  an- 
nexationists." 

This  sentiment  echoed  across  the  !N"orth  Sea  into 
England,  and  still  echoing,  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  act 
as  a  soporific  on  American  war  activity.    ^  England 


SMOKE-CLOUDS  OF  DEMOCRACY       91 

a  considerable  portion  of  the  Press,  in  good  sporting 
spirit,  bailed  the  advent  of  the  "German  people's  di- 
rection of  their  own  affairs/'  while  the  "Trust  Willy" 
Pacifists,  both  amateur  and  professional,  joyfully 
piped,   "I  told  you  so!" 

All  through  the  lead-hued,  mudded  summer  of  1917, 
Britain's  soldiers  gamely  wallowed  and  bit  their  way 
slowly  into  the  higher  German  positions  in  France  and 
Flanders.  The  combined  offensive  in  which  Russia, 
France  and  Italy  would  join  with  them  had  stagnated 
everywhere  else  for  reasons  more  politic  than  military.' 

Those  who  assert  that  England  is  saving  herself  in 
this  war  as  in  other  wars — and  I  still  find  them  in 
America  in  the  summer  of  1918 — should  in  that  fair- 
ness which  is  the  ideal  we  should  always  seek,  realise 
and  admit  that  in  the  extremely  critical  season  of 
1917,  the  English  and  the  rest  of  the  British  Empire 
sustained  enormous  losses  in  an  attempt  to  keep  the 
war  going  offensively  for  the  Allies,  while  America 
was  preparing  her  army. 

Although  the  military  results  through  the  summer 
were  as  discouraging  to  the  Allies  as  they  had  been 
encouraging  in  1916,  a  touching  and  beautiful  hope 
took  root  and  flourished  among  them  that  the  Reichs- 
tag Peace  Resolution  was  a  clear  indication  that  the 
German  people,  bent  under  war,  would  soon  enable  the 
Allies  to  draw  the  fangs  of  a  menacing  militarism. 

What  was  happening  in  Germany?  At  the  close 
of  the  summer  Hindenburg  and  Ludendorff  began  to 
plan  and  rehearse  sledgehammer  offensives  on  the 
Western  front  for  1918.  !N"ow  that  Russia  was  dwin- 
dling to  impotence,  they  and  their  military  colleagues 
felt  that  all  they  needed  was  an  extension  of  the  lease 


92    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

of  German  unity  in  order  to  win.  They  detested  the 
democratic  ebullition.  They  especially  wished  to 
head  off  any  increase  to  the  adherents  of  the  Indepen- 
dent U-Socialists,  the  publication  of  whose  peace 
terms,  as  stated  by  their  leader,  Herr  Haase,  had  been 
banned  throughout  most  of  Germany  including  Berlin. 
Even  the  tamed  Socialist  Vorwdrts,  whose  presses  us- 
ually feed  from  the  official  hand,  could  not  reproduce 
the  resolution  proposed  by  the  Socialist  Minority  and 
read  by  Herr  Haase,  but  merely  contented  itself  with 
expressions  of  regret  that  a  former  colleague  "has  hope- 
lessly run  amuck." 

These  resolutions  (of  the  Minority,  remember)  are: 

"The  Eeichstag  strives  for  a  peace  without  annexa- 
tions of  any  kind  whatever,  and  without  war  indemni- 
fication— upon  the  basis  of  the  right  of  the  people  to 
decide  their  own  destinies.  In  particular  it  expects  the 
restoration  of  Belgium  and  the  repair  of  the  vsrrong 
done  to  Belgium.  The  Reichstag  demands  the  initia- 
tion of  immediate  peace  negotiations  upon  the  founda- 
tion of  this  programme.  It  demands  an  international 
agreement  about  general  disarmament,  freedom  of  in- 
ternational trade  and  intercourse,  unrestricted  inter- 
national freedom  of  movement,  an  international  agree- 
ment for  the  protection  of  workmen  from  exploitation, 
recognition  of  the  equal  rights  of  a  State  without  regard 
to  nationality,  sex,  race,  language,  and  religion,  pro- 
tection of  national  minorities,  and  obligatory  interna- 
tional arbitration  for  the  settlement  of  all  disputes. 

The  urgent  preliminary  condition  for  the  achievement 
of  peace  and  the  carrying  out  of  this  peace  programme 
is  the  immediate  raising  of  the  state  of  siege.  More- 
over, it  is  necessary  to  effect  the  complete  democratisa- 
tion  of  the  Constitution  and  Administration  of  the 


SMOKE-CLOUDS  OF  DEMOCRACY      93 

Empire  and  its  several  States,  and  this  must  end  in 
the  creation  of  a  social  Republic." 

"Not  only  might  these  resolutions  of  the  5  per  cent, 
contaminate  some  of  the  good  Germans,  but  it  was 
disconcerting  to  the  military  managers  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire  while  planning  their  giant  offensive  that 
the  Reichstag  was  screeching  and  rocking  in  its  po- 
litical baby-carriage.  Therefore,  they  decided  to 
throw  it  a  brightly-coloured  ball  to  play  with,  although 
down  in  their  hearts  they  would  undoubtedly  have  pre- 
ferred a  bomb. 

On  ITovember  2d,  Count  Hertling,  like  all  his  pre- 
decessors, had  become  Chancellor  by  the  "exclusive 
grace"  of  the  Kaiser.  As  he  was  the  second  Chan- 
cellor to  be  wished  upon  the  Reichstag  within  a  hun- 
dred days,  the  so-called  Democratic  Majority  of  that 
body,  consisting  approximately  of  four-fifths  of  its 
397  members,  "rebelled."  It  threatened  to  withhold 
its  support  from  Hertling  just  as  it  had  refused  to 
work  with  Mark-Time  Michaelis  unless  Hertling  gave 
his  deputyships  in  the  chancellorship  and  Prussian 
ministry  to  "democrats." 

Even  Hindenburg  went  to  Berlin  to  engage  in  the 
ensuing  discussions.  With  Hertling  he  listened  to  the 
"democrats' "  demands  and  although  the  offices  for 
which  they  clamoured  embody  no  real  authority,  a  pe- 
riod of  pretended  negotiations  ended  in  the  magnani- 
mous granting  of  "concessions." 

All  this  was  revealed  to  the  world  through  the  me- 
dium of  a  spectacular  farce  entitled  "Democracy  and 
Unity,"  which  was  staged  for  the  edification  of  "dem- 
ocratic"  Germany,   and  the  deception  of  the  outside 


94    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

world.  An  act  of  boundless  generosity  on  the  part 
of  Hohenzollemj  Hindenburg,  Hertling  and  Company, 
this  admitting  of  the  people's  representatives  in  the 
Keichstag  to  a  share  in  the  government!  l^o  wonder 
the  mere  mortals  in  Germany  gave  way  to  emotional 
sentiment  of  thanksgiving,  while  the  "Trust  Willys" 
in  England  piped  the  more  shrill. 

I  do  not  deny  that  the  idea  of  a  new  civilian  trium- 
rirate  looked  very  well  from  the  distance  as  a  check 
upon  rampant  militarism.  But  again  I  would  remind 
ihe  reader:  "Prussia  never  yields;  she  only  seems 
to  yield."  In  addition  to  the  fact  that  the  triumvirate 
exercise  power  only  by  grace  of  the  Kaiser,  the  records 
of  the  men  who  conipose  it  are  against  them,  from  the 
democratic  point  of  view.  )I  have  already  discussed 
Hertling  in  this  respect  in  Chapter  II. 

Herr  von  Peyer,  vice-Chancellor,  is  a  remarkably 
well-preserved  man  of  70  years,  who  devoted  his  early 
years  to  a  study  of  theology  but  switched  to  law  in 
his  native  Wiirtemburg  where  he  gained  considerable 
reputation  as  a  defender  of  criminals — a  kind  of  ex- 
perience which  he  should  find  exceedingly  useful  in 
his  present  position  defending  German  policy  among 
the  nations.  Peyer  has  made  numerous  Democratic 
speeches,  but  like  most  of  his  Social  Democratic  breth- 
ren, he  has  never  failed  to  yield  to  Imperial  Junker- 
dom  on  a  showdown. 

The  third  member  of  the  triumvirate,  Privy  Coun- 
cillor Eriedburg,  is  vice-president  of  the  Prussian  min- 
istry— (Count  Hertling  as  Chancellor  being  President 
ex  officio).  He  is  67  years  of  age,  being  three  years 
younger  than  Peyer,  and  was  a  professor  of  political 
science  at  Halle  University  for  a  number  of  years. 


SMOKE-CLOUDS  OF  DEMOCRACY      95 

Like  Hertling,  he  has  been  an  outspoken  opponent 
of  any  parliamentary  form  of  government. 

Tracking  down  loopholes  and  flaws  in  Prussianised 
Germany's  diplomatic  dealing  with  her  own  people 
and  foreign  countries,  I  find  a  most  pleasant  and  use- 
ful diversion.  There  is  a  further  slight  flaw  in  the 
Friedburg  appointment: 

In  order  to  eliminate  the  last  vestige  of  risk  in  ad- 
mitting the  Reichstag  to  any  power  through  this  "dem- 
ocratic" triumvirate,  let  it  be  noted  that  the  rulers 
constitutionally  subtracted  him  from  the  Reichstag  in 
order  to  elevate  him  to  the  Bundesrat,  or  Federal  Coun- 
cil, which,  let  me  again  remark,  is  the  check  upon  the 
Reichstag  and  is  the  constitutional  instrument  ap- 
pointed by  the  rulers  of  the  several  states,  the  Kaiser 
appointing  for  dominating  Prussia. 

And  now  for  the  climax  in  the  colossal  farce  staged 
and  managed  by  Hindenburg.  What  was  the  Reichs- 
tag's end  of  the  bargain  for  receiving  these  "conces- 
sions" ?  It  was  nothing  less  than  an  agreement  by 
the  Democratic  Majority  to  muzzle  itseK  until  the 
end  of  the  war  on  all  questions  connected  with  the 
conduct  of  the  war. 

Furthermore,  it  was  agreed  that  if  the  Socialists 
or  other  parties  attempted  to  go  outside  the  agreed 
programme,  they  were  to  be  voted  down  until  after 
the  war. 

These  are  the  simple  facts,  and  it  is  difficult  for  the 
outsider  to  understand  the  political  credulity  of  the 
German  people.  They  again  congratulated  themselves 
on  their  unity,  while  Vorwdrts,  the  organ  of  "tame" 
Socialists,  exultantly  declared:  "Germany  has  com- 
pleted a  revolution  of  her  domestic  institutions  which 


96    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

puts  iter  on  the  same  level  as  other  peoples.     By  what 
right  can  the  name  of  Democracy  be  denied  to  Ger- 


many 


2" 


The  29th  of  N'ovember,  so  little  understood,  is  of 
tremendous  importance  in  the  war  as  a  whole.  One 
of  the  reasons  it  attracted  such  slight  attention  was 
that  the  Cambrai  and  Italian  battles  were  blocking 
the  headings.  The  events  of  the  29th  nullified  the 
Reichstag  Peace  Resolution  of  the  19th  of  July  of 
no  indemnities  and  no  annexations  to  the  extent  that 
the  people's  representatives  in  the  Reichstag,  keeping 
to  their  bargain  of  "Spoof  Day,"  sat  obediently  mute 
while  the  military  party  in  the  spring  of  1918  framed 
a  peace  with  a  Russia  which  was  as  helplessly  break- 
ing up  as  an  ice-sheet  after  the  winter — a  peace  which 
includes  both  indemnities  and  annexation. 

The  third  date  in  the  deceptive  democracy  series  is 
March  4th,  1918,  when  negotiations  in  the  East  hav- 
ing been  completed  to  the  satisfaction  of  Germany, 
the  Kaiser  publicly  affixed  his  seal  of  approval  through 
the  medium  of  a  telegram  to  Hindenburg  in  which 
he  said: 

"With  the  signing  of  peace  with  Russia,  almost  four 
years  of  war  on  the  Eastern  front  have  finally  reached  a 
glorious  conclusion.  I  feel  deeply  the  need  to  express 
again  to  you,  my  dear  Field  Marshal,  and  to  your  faith- 
ful assistant,  General  Ludendorff,  my  own  thanks  and 
the  thanks  of  the  German  people.  By  the  Battle  of  Tan- 
nenberg,  by  the  Winter  Battle  in  Masuren,  and  by  the 
battles  near  Lodz,  you  laid  the  foundations  for  all  fur- 
ther successes  and  made  it  possible  by  means  of  the 
break-through  of  Gorlice  and  Tamow,  to  force  the  Rus- 
sian army  to  retreat  and  victoriously  to  hold  our  ground 


SMOKE-CLOUDS  OF  DEMOCRACY       97 

against  all  further  assaults  of  the  enemy  army  masses. 
And  now  the  costly  prize  of  victory  and  the  long  struggle 
is  in  our  hands.  Our  Baltic  brethren  and  countrymen 
are  liberated  from  the  Russian  yoke,  and  many  again- 
feel  themselves  Germans  [About  6  per  cent — Author]. 
God  has  been  with  us  and  will  continue  His  aid." 

On  the  same  day  the  Elaiser  telegraphed  to  the 
King  of  Saxony: 

"You  have  much  gratified  me  by  your  congratulatory 
telegram.  Like  you,  I  feel  the  deepest  satisfaction  and 
gratitude  towards  God  and  the  Army  which  has  ex- 
torted this  peace.  The  Eastern  front  now  being  free,  we 
have  made  an  enormous  step  forward.  Firmly  trusting 
in  the  sword,  I  face  the  future,  which  will,  and  must, 
alter  all  our  heavy  sacrifices,  bring  us  victory,  and  a 
strong  peace." 

Although  the  Reichstag  Majority  had  bound  itself 
on  "Spoof  Day"  not  to  interfere  with  the  conduct  of 
the  war,  which  includes  the  making  of  peace,  it  was 
fitting  that  they  should  explain  their  dereliction  from 
their  pledges  of  no  annexations  and  no  indemnities  of 
the  19th  of  July.  They  did  this  cheerfully  through 
thinly-veiled  contentions  of  "liberating"  Russian  prov- 
inces. 

In  addition  to  these  apparent  excuses,  however,  they 
contended  that  conditions  had  changed  since  the  19th 
of  July,  and  that  a  refusal  by  Germany's  Western 
enemies  to  make  "no  annexation  and  no  indemnity 
pledges,"  rendered  the  German  pledges  null  and  void 
and  gave  her  a  free  hand  in  Russia. 

Finally  the  Reichstag  Majority  and  the  Socialist 


98    THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Majority  sought  to  cover  their  abandonment  of  their 
alleged  principles,  by  introducing  wordy  resolutions 
in  favour  "of  self-determination"  in  the  territories  an- 
nexed by  Russia. 

Herr  Haase,  leader  of  the  18  Independent  U-So- 
cialists,  threw  interesting  light  upon  the  crookedness 
of  his  confreres  when  he  said  in  the  Reichstag  that 
these  resolutions  were  merely  a  new  attempt  to  con- 
fuse public  opinion  in  clouds  of  smoke.  He  added 
that  the  Reichstag  Peace  Resolution  of  July  19th  was 
itself  nothing  but  a  smoke-cloud  intended  to  stupefy 
the  masses.     Continuing,  he  said: 

'^Our  feelings  are  only  feelings  of  shame.  Herr 
Scheidemann,  Herr  Ebert,  and  Herr  David  (the  So- 
cialist Majority  leaders)  still  go  on  planting  hope  on  a 
grave.  Never  has  the  antagonism  to  Germany  flour- 
ished as  it  flourishes  now.  The  Reichstag  Resolution 
doe*  not  contain  the  smallest  grain  of  democracy.  Even 
to  Turkey  we  are  surrendering  large  territories  without 
consulting  the  population,  and  the  cries  of  the  Armen- 
ians for  help  die  away  unregarded  in  Berlin.  The 
peace  treaty  with  Finland  is  a  mere  sham.  The  actual 
Government  there  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Bolshevists,  but 
we  interfere  in  the  internal  affairs  of  the  country — 
against  the  Bolshevists.  In  Finland,  as  elsewhere,  we 
are  provoking  a  lasting  hatred  among  the  great  mass 
of  the  population.  The  German  Government  is  sowing 
the  wind  and  will  reap  the  storm." 

It  might  be  cited  by  those  among  us  who  believe 
that  the  Social  Democrats  in  themselves  may  some  day 
effect  peace,  that  although  the  Social  Democratic  Ma- 
jority, unlike  the  Minority,  did  not  vote  against  the 
Peace  treaties  formulated  by  the  Military  with  Rus- 


SMOKE-CLOUDS  OF  DEMOCRACY       99 

sia  and  Roiunania,  nevertheless  did  not  vote  for  them. 
This  is  perfectly  true,  but  it  makes  the  case  against 
them  all  the  worse.  They  are  either  invertebrates  or 
they  are  deceitfully  playing  the  military  game;  or,  as 
is  most  probable,  they  combine  the  two.  In  any  event, 
they  continue  to  serve  the  purpose  of  gulling  many 
among  us. 

The  Socialist  member  of  the  Keichstag,  Wolfgang- 
Heine,  had  the  courage  to  protest  against  his  party's 
spineless  connivance  with  Pan-German  policy  vrhen  he 
said:  "Full  account  must  some  day  be  taken  of  those 
who  pursue  a  policy  which  led  to  this  frigiiirul  war. 
The  blame  lies  not  alone  with  the  Junliers  ard  those 
like-minded  with  them,  but  with  the  whole  German 
people.  The  Socialists  are  particularly  responsible; 
for  they  always  follow  a  policy  of  protest  and  then 
abstain  from  opposing  with  their  votes  that  against 
which  they  protest." 

From  the  revolutionary  point  of  view,  the  Germans 
might  be  divided  into  three  classes.  To  the  first  be- 
long the  leaders,  the  haK-deified  army  officers  and  pro- 
fessors, and  the  great  men  of  business.  The  second 
class  contains  the  bulk  of  the  people.  Class  three  con- 
tains the  eighteen  more  or  less  revolutionary  extrem- 
ists in  the  Reichstag  and  a  small  minority  of  the  pop- 
ulation, certainly  not  more  than  one-fifth. 

This  last  class  has  already  endeavoured  to  make  its 
protests  heard  and  felt,  but  a  police  system  armed 
with  revolver,  sword,  and  machine  gun,  with  espion- 
age and  "preventive  arrest,"  has  rendered  all  such  at- 
tempts futile.  Jt  is  obvious  that  there  can  be  no  hope 
of  a  revolution  until  the  third  class  wins  the  support 
of  the  second;  but  the  latter  despises  the  former  and 


loo  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

seeks  to  curry  favour  with  the  first  class,  from  whicH 
it  derives  its  ready-made  ideas. 

In  comparing  the  Russian  and  the  German  peoples 
in  respect  of  revolution,  certain  differences  should  be 
kept  in  mind.  The  Russian  people  were  kept  loyal 
through  fear;  the  German  people  through  fear  plus 
education,  and  of  these  education  is  by  far  the  more 
potent.  In  Germany,  we  find  the  phenomenon  of  the 
lowest  percentage  of  illiteracy  and  the  highest  percen- 
tage of  delusion  of  any  advanced  nation. 

Remember  that  for  three  generations  the  Ger- 
man's belief  in  this  institution  has  been  bred  in  his 
very  marrow.  He  is  grafted  to  the  tree  of  State  at 
the  age  of  five  and  rarely  does  he  fail  to  grow  more 
firmly  into  the  fibre  of  the  wood  with  each  succeeding 
year. 

The  Germans  love  their  country  and  are  ardent  stu- 
dents of  its  history  as  revealed  to  them  by  their  pro- 
fessors— ^men  who  always  write  with  the  hope  of 
official  approval.  That  is  why  their  glorious  history, 
as  they  see  it,  is  the  history  of  the  house  of  Hohen- 
zollem — the  axis  of  the  German  world,  the  only  world 
worth  while.  Democratic  ideas  filter  but  slowly 
through  iron  frontiers,  and  while  most  Germans  whine 
at  the  Allies'  blockade  of  the  German  stomach,  they 
delight  in  their  own  government's  blockade  of  the  Ger- 
man mind. 

If  a  neutral  arrives  in  England  from  Germany,  he 
is  asked  by  every  one  he  meets: 

"How  are  things  really  over  there?" 

Reverse  the  situation,  and  the  average  German 
would  not  think  of  seeking  information  from  the  trav- 
eller, but  would  explain  the  whole  situation  to  him. 


SMOKE-CLOUDS  OF  DEMOCRACY     loi 

People  will  fight  equally  hard  for  their  beliefs 
whether  those  beliefs  are  right  or  wrong.  So  long 
as  the  Germans'  creed  centres  upon  their  faith  in  the 
emperor  and  the  imperial  system,  the  combination  of 
blindly  obedient  human  ants,  putting  all  their  trust  in. 
a  set  of  unscrupulously  ambitious  leaders,  will  con- 
tinue to  be  a  danger  to  the  society  of  nations.  And 
their  faith  will  not  be  shaken  until  the  failure  of  tho 
militaristic  autocrat  is  demonstrated  by  the  defeat  of 
his  armies. 

There  can  be  no  hope  of  genuine  political  reform 
in  Gei-many  until  the  German  people  realise  and  ad- 
mit  the  absurdity  of  their  present  belief  that  their 
country,  after  exhausting  every  possible  means  of" 
keeping  the  peace,  was  forced  to  defend  herself  against 
a  ring  of  jealous  enemies.  That  delusion  is  the  foun- 
dation-stone upon  which  the  government  has  reared 
its  whole  gigantic  structure  of  falsehood. 

One  might  reasonably  suppose  that  Prince  Lich- 
nowsky,  German  Ambassador  to  London  up  to  the 
outbreak  of  war,  would  have  shattered  this  foundation- 
stone,  when  he  furnished  definite  proof  that  Germany, 
not  Great  Britain,  deliberately  willed  war.  One  might 
suppose,  indeed,  that  the  German  people  would  be  im- 
pressed by  such  points  in  the  revelations  as: 

1.  "Of  course  it  would  only  have  needed  a  hint  to 
make  Count  Berchtold  (the  Austrian  Foreign  Minister) 
satisfy  himself  with  a  diplomatic  success  and  put  up 
with  the  Serbian  reply.  But  this  hint  was  not  given. 
On  the  contrary,  we  pressed  for  war.  After  our  re- 
fusal Sir  Edward  Grey  asked  us  to  come  forward  with  a 
proposal  of  our  own,  but  we  insisted  upon  war. 

2.  The  urgent  appeals  and  definite  declarations  of 


102  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Monsieur  SazonofF  (Russian  Foreign  Minister),  later 
on  the  positively  humble  telegrams  of  the  Czar,  the 
repeated  proposals  of  Sir  Edward  Grey,  the  warnings 
of  the  Italian  foreign  minister  and  Bollati  (Italian 
Ambassador  in  Berlin),  my  urgent  advice — all  were  of 
no  use;  for  Berlin  weird  on  insisting  that  Serbia  must 
he  massacred. 

3.  Count  Mensdorff  (Austrian  Ambassador)  ae- 
companied  us  to  the  train  with  his  staff.  He  was  cheer- 
ful, and  gave  me  to  understand  that  perhaps  he  would 
remain  in  London-  To  the  English,  however,  he  said 
that  U  was  not  Austria,  hut  we,  who  had  wanted  the 
war. 

The  special  train  took  us  from  London  to  Paris, 
where  a  guard  of  honour  was  drawn  up  for  me.  I  was 
treated  like  a  departing  sovereign.  Thus  ended  my 
London  mission.  It  was  wrecked,  not  by  the  perfidy  of 
the  British,  huJb  hy  the  perfidy  of  our  policy. 

4.  "When  now,  after  two  years  in  Germany,  I  realise 
everything  in  retrospect,  I  say  to  myself  that  I  realised 
too  late  that  there  was  no  place  for  me  in  a  system 
which  for  years  has  lived  only  on  tradition  and  on 
routine,  which  tolerates  representatives  who  report  only 
what  one  wants  to  read. 

Absence  of  prejudice  and  independent  judgment  are 
oombatted.  Want  of  ability  and  of  character  are  ex- 
tolled and  esteemed. 

I  had  to  support  in  London  a  policy  which  I  Jcnew 
to  he  fallacious.  I  was  paid  out  for  it,  for  it  was  a  svn 
against  the  Holy  Ghost. 

5.  Our  own  White  Booh,  owing  to  Us  poverty  and 
gaps,  constitutes  a  grave  self -accusation: 

6.  In  the  days  between  July  23  and  July  30,  1914, 
when  M.  Sazonoff  emphatically  declared  that  Russia 
eould  not  tolerate  an  attack  upon  Serbia,  we  rejected 
the  British  proposal^  oi  mediation,  although  Serbia,  un- 


SMOKE-CLOUDS  OF  DEMOCRACY     103 

der  Russian  and  British  pressure,  had  accepted  almost 
the  whole  ultimatum,  and  although  an  agreement  about 
the  two  points  in  question  could  easily  have  been 
reached,  and  Count  Berchtold  was  even  ready  to  satisfy 
himself  with  the  Serbian  reply. 

On  July  30,  when  Count  Berchtold  wanted  to  give 
way,  we,  without  Austria  having  been  attacked,  replied 
to  Russia's  mobilisation  by  sending  an  ultimatum  to 
Petersburg,  and  on  July  31  we  declared  war  on  the 
Russians,  although  the  Czar  had  pledged  his  word  that 
as  long  as  negotiations  continued  not  a  man  should 
march — so  that  we  deliberately  destroyed  the  possibility 
of  a  veaceftd  settlement. 

In  view  of  these  indisputable  facts,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  whole  civilised  world  outside  Germany 
attributes  to  us  the  sole  guilt  for  the  world-war. 

7.  Is  it  not  intelligible  that  our  enemies  declare 
that  they  will  not  rest  until  a  system  is  destroyed  which 
constitutes  a  permanent  threatening  of  our  neighbours  ? 
Must  they  not  otherwise  fear  that  in  a  few  years  they 
will  again  see  their  provinces  overrun  and  their  towns 
and  villages  destroyed  ?  Were  those  people  not  right 
who  declared  that  it  was  the  spirit  of  Treitschke  and 
Bemhardi  which  dominated  the  German  people — the 
spirit  which  glorifies  war  as  an  aim  in  itself  and  does 
not  abhor  it  as  an  evil  ?  Were  those  people  not  right 
who  said  that  among  us  it  is  still  the  feudal  knights  and 
Junkers  and  the  caste  of  warriors  who  rule  and  who 
fix  our  ideals  and  our  values — ^not  the  civilian  gentle- 
men? Were  they  not  right  who  said  that  the  love  of 
duelling,  which  inspires  our  youth  at  the  universities, 
lives  on  in  those  who  guide  the  fortunes  of  the  people  ? 
Had  not  the  events  at  Zabem  and  the  Parliamentary 
debates  on  that  case  shown  foreign  countries  how  civil 
rights  and  freedoms  are  valued  among  us,  when  ques- 
tions of  military  power  are  on  the  other  side  ? 


104  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Militarism,  really  a  school  for  the  nation  and  an  in- 
stnunent  of  policy,  makes  policy  into  the  instrument 
of  military  power,  if  the  patriarchal  absolutism  of  a 
soldier-kingdom  renders  possible  an  attitude  which 
would  not  be  permitted  by  a  democracy  which  had  dis- 
engaged itself  from  military  Junker  influences. 

That  is  what  our  enemies  think,  and  that  is  what 
they  are  bound  to  think,  when  they  see  that,  in  spite  of 
capitalistic  industrialisation,  and  in  spite  of  Socialistic 
organisation,  the  living,  as  Friedrich  Nietzsche  says, 
are  still  governed  by  the  dead.  The  principal  war  aim 
of  our  enemies,  the  democratisation  of  Germany,  will 
be  achieved." 

If  it  is  true,  as  many  say,  that  the  German  people 
would  oppose  their  government,  its  deceits  and  ideas 
of  conquests,  once  the  scales  dropped  from  their  eyes, 
and  overthrow  their  rulers,  why  have  they  not  done  so 
in  the  light  of  the  Lichnowsky  revelations  ?  They  have 
not  for  two  reasons: 

|[n  the  first  place,  their  "hate"  obsession  is  so  great 
that  the  Government  can  circulate  with  considerable 
success  stories  in  the  Press  tending  to  show  that  Prince 
Lichnowsky  is  afflicted  with  anglomania  and  other 
mental  trouble,  just  as  they  dispose  of  Doctor  Miihlon 
(a  former  director  at  Krupp's  and  later  in  the  employ 
of  the  German  foreign  office,  whose  conscience  caused 
him  to  go  to  Switzerland,  where,  in  security,  he  tells 
the  truth  of  German  plans  for  war)  by  declaring  that 
he  is  suffering  from  neurasthenia.  Denunciation  is  a 
favourite  weapon  with  the  German  Government;  in- 
deed, the  writer  has  had  it  directed  against  him  both  in 
England  and  in  the  United  States.  The  Government 
has  been  successful  to  the  amazing  extent  that  the  Lich- 


SMOKE-CLOUDS  OF  DEMOCRACY     105 

nowsky  revelations  have  been  set  aside  by  all  Germans 
political  parties  except  the  Socialist  Minority  of  18. 

The  second  and  more  important  reason,  however,  is 
that  education  has  made  the  Germans  a  thoughtfully- 
economic  and  practical  people.  Among  all  European 
belligerents,  thoughts  of  accumulated  war-debt  and  tax- 
ation growing  out  of  it  are  appalling.  In  no  country, 
however,  to  such  an  extent  as  in  Germany,  have  I  heard 
boastful  expressions  of  hope  of  indemnities  which  would 
make  tax  paying  even  a  lighter  burden  than  before  the 
war;  or  a  corresponding  depression  and  whining  when, 
in  the  lights  and  shades  of  the  struggle,  it  has  some- 
times seemed  that  these  indenmities  might  not  be  forth- 
coming. 

When  the  chances  of  loot  looked  especially  bright. 
Doctor  Helfferich,  then  Secretary  of  the  Imperial  Treas- 
ury, assured  the  plunder-loving  populace  by  proclaiming, 
'We  do  not  desire  to  increase  by  taxation  the  heavy 
burden  which  war  throws  upon  our  people.  Ger- 
many's enemies  deserve  to  drag  the  leaden  weight 
through  the  centuries  to  come." 

1  have  talked  earnestly  with  many  Social  Demo- 
cratic members  of  the  Reichstag,  and  almost  without 
exception  I  have  found  them  intensely  practical  men, 
combining  business  ability  with  a  deep  knowledge  of 
economics. 

Although  keeping  an  eye  on  electoral  reform,  mem- 
bers of  the  Social  Democratic  Majority  are  solidly 
behind  the  war-machine.  In  fact,  were  I  not  aware 
of  their  party  affiliations,  I  should  have  mistaken  some 
of  them  for  dyed-in-the-wool  Conservatives.  Jn  Great 
Britain  and  America  most  of  them  would  be  Liberals; 
but  in  Germany,  with  its  social  caste  of  parties,  they 


iio6  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

are  forced  to  become  Social  Democrats  in  order  to 
gratify  their  political  ambitions.  Almost  invariably, 
they  display  the  customary  weakness  of  the  subjects 
of  the  Empire  of  prostrating  themselves  at  the  feet  of 
the  men  higher  up  if  these  but  show  them  a  little 
personal  consideration. 

Take  Herr  Scheidemann,  the  Social  Democratic 
leader,  for  example.  When  he  returned  from  Stock- 
holm in  the  summer  of  1917,  he  expressed  as  his  un- 
shakable conviction  the  principle  that  there  would  be 
no  peace  until  Germany  became  thoroughly  democra- 
tised. Yet  he  says — after  his  hopes  had  again  been 
brightened  by  successes  in  the  East : 

"We  must  protect  ourselves  against  Russia  so  long 
as  she  remains  our  enemy,  but  we  do  not  wish  the 
work  of  the  revolution  to  fall  to  the  ground.  The 
disorderly  retreat  condemns  the  masses  of  Russian 
soldiers  to  frightful  sufferings,  and  the  Socialist  Gov- 
ernment of  Russia  lays  the  blame  for  this  tremendous 
misfortune  upon  another  Socialist  body,  the  Maximal- 
ists. Think  if  such  a  misfortune  were  to  befall  the 
German  Army  and  the  Government  were  able  to  blame 
for  it  the  Socialist  Party  in  Germany!  Here  you 
have  the  key  to  the  understanding  of  our  attitude.  If 
anything  similar  were  to  happen  with  us,  it  would 
mean  the  downfall  of  Germany,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  downfall  of  the  German  democracy. 

"Our  Russian  comrades  will  now  perhaps  under- 
stand why  we  did  not  follow  their  advice  and  copy 
their  revolution.  They  will  now  perhaps  realise  that 
we  did  not  wish  to  prepare  for  the  German  people 
the  fate  which  the  Russian  people  now  have  to  endure. 
We  must  reach  democracy  by  other  paths,  and  we  are 


SMOKE-CLOUDS  OF  DEMOCRACY     107 

alreadj  upon  them,  I  do  not  doubt  for  a  moment 
that  we  shall  have  equal  suffrage  in  Prussia  and  the 
Parliamentary  system  after  the  war." 

!N"ote,  after  the  war. 

The  Social  Democrats  are  practical  men  who  en- 
courage the  Eussians  to  talk  platitudes  and  dream 
while  they  look  realities  in  the  face.  I  have  heard 
some  of  them  talk  of  the  Eussian  as  a  good-natured, 
simple  fellow  who  would  benefit  by  the  German  de- 
velopment of  his  land. 

They  would  oppose  paying  indemnities  as  vigorously 
as  the  rest  of  the  Germans.  Even  such  an  extreme 
member  of  the  Minority  as  the  hater  of  militarism 
who  suggested  that  I  should  go  to  Potsdam  to  see  the 
return  from  the  Somme  of  the  battered  Prussian 
Guard,  gave  me  the  following  views: 

"We  wish  to  be  just  to  our  enemies,  and  we  do 
not  wish  any  of  their  territory.  But  we  must  safe- 
guard the  future  of  Germany.  In  all  wars  througJi- 
out  history  the  winner  has  recouped  financially  either 
through  direct  indemnity  or  through  commercial  ex- 
pansion as  a  result  of  the  war.  I  believe  that  neither 
side  should  pay  the  other  in  this  war,  with  the  single 
exception  that  we  should  recompense  Belgium. 

"A  drawn  war,  so  far  as  the  west  is  concerned, 
means  a  great  burden  on  all  the  belligerents  for  many 
years.  The  country  whose  people  will  make  the 
greatest  sacrifices  to  throw  off  this  burden  as  soon  as 
possible  will  be  triumphant  in  the  peaceful  conquests 
of  the  markets  of  the  world.  Our  people  are  more 
loyal  to  the  idea  of  the  State  and  will  bear  more  pa- 
tiently  such   sacrifices   than   the   individualistic   Eng- 


io8  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

lish,  to  whom  a  drawn  war  will  mean  a  long  and 
disastrous  period  of  unrest. 

"We  are  certain  of  the  industrial  control  of  the 
Near  East.  We  should  not  interfere  with  the  politi- 
cal independence  of  the  Near  Eastern  countries,  but  we 
recognise  that  it  is  to  their  advantage  as  well  as  our 
own  that  they  be  directed  by  a  strong  policy  which 
will  enable  German  science  to  develop  this  region  so 
richly  endowed  by  nature." 

In  short,  though  some  Social  Democrats  have  ex- 
pressed to  me  deep  regret  that  their  Government  has 
got  Germany  into  such  a  mess — or  could  not  keep 
Germany  out  of  such  a  mess,  as  they  prefer  to  put  it 
— they  are  not  going  to  make  matters  worse  by  forcing 
internal  dissensions  to  a  point  which  would  jeopardise 
their  own  and  their  country's  prosperity.  Jn  other 
words,  though  they  want  democracy,  they  do  not  want 
it  at  the  expense  of  their  financial  welfare. 


CHAPTER  V 


THE   WILSON   WEDGE 


AND  now,"  I  asked  at  length,  "why,  in  your  hon- 
est opinion,  did  America  come  into  the  war?" 

I  put  this  question  to  a  group  of  Hungarian  pris- 
oners in  early  January,  1918,  who  formed  part  of  the 
fourteen  hundred  taken  by  the  French  on  Monte  Tom- 
ba  a  few  days  before.  We  were  in  a  great  square 
courtyard  in  the  old  Italian  city  of  Castlefranco. 
From  the  grey  and  white  mountain  mass  to  the  north 
came  the  rolling  of  the  guns,  while  just  outside  squads 
of  Italian  soldiers  were  taking  bodies  from  a  mass  of 
wreckage  that  had  been  a  hospital  full  of  wounded  the 
night  before,  but  was  now  a  blood-soaked  shambles 
of  the  dead. 

The  raiders  who  flew  down  from  the  iN'orth  had  done 
their  work. 

I  determined,  however,  to  show  no  rancour  while 
among  the  prisoners.  I  was  making  definite  investi- 
gations with  the  consent  of  the  French  Commandant. 
This  is  a  war  of  opinions,  and  it  will  never  really  end 
until  our  enemies  change  some  of  theirs.  That  is 
why,  after  I  had  broken  the  ice  with  a  chat  about  my 
visits  to  their  country,  I  asked  the  all-important  ques- 
tion. They  hung  back,  however,  and  avoided  a  direct 
reply,  presumably  either  because  they  wished  to  avoid 
hurting  my  feelings  or  arousing  resentment  in  ma 

109 


no  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

At  length,  after  reassuring  them  by  promising  that  if 
they  would  give  me  their  frank  opinion  I  should  with 
equal  frankness  give  our  side  of  tlie  story  if  they 
wished,  I  again  asked — "Why  did  America  declare 
war  ?" 

"For  financial  reasons,  if  I  may  say  so,"  the  most  au- 
dacious replied,  hesitatingly  and  with  extreme  polite- 
ness. 

I  took  this  pleasantly,  and  encouraged  them  to  con- 
tinue. 

"The  financial  alliance  with  England  caused  Amer- 
ica's entrance,"  a  second  elaborated  to  the  approving 
nods  of  the  rest. 

"But  have  you  not  read  President  Wilson's 
speeches?"  I  asked. 

Evidently  they  had  not,  to  judge  by  their  puzzled 
expressions. 

After  considerable  questioning,  I  found  that  some 
of  them  had  read  extracts  with  which,  however,  they 
were  not  greatly  impressed;  though  it  is  important  to 
note  that  their  own  Press  comments  on  our  President 
and  his  utterances,  had  become  clearly  engraved  on 
their  minds. 

"But  President  Wilson  sought  to  make  it  clear  when 
we  entered  the  war  that  we  did  so  for  no  material 
gain,"  I  exclaimed.  "He  said:  *We  have  no  selfish 
ends  to  serve.  We  desire  no  conquest,  no  dominion. 
We  seek  no  indemnities  for  ourselves,  no  material 
compensation  for  the  sacrifices  we  shall  freely  make. 
We  are  but  one  of  the  champions  of  the  rights  of  man- 
kind.' " 

I  found  my  listeners  looking  at  one  another, 
knowingly.     When  I  sought  an  explanation,  however, 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  in 

they  again  became  reticent.  To  get  them  to  talk 
freely  about  President  Wilson  was  most  difficult  of 
all,  due  no  doubt  to  an  analogy  in  their  minds  of  the 
case  reversed  with  the  sacrilege  of  an  American  pris- 
oner expressing  a  not  flattering  opinion  about  the 
Hapsburg  ruler.  I  reminded  them  that  the  President 
of  the  United  States  was  elected  by  the  people  because 
they  considered  him  the  best  man  to  be  their  leader  for 
four  years,  and  that  there  was  not  the  least  likelihood 
of  him  casting  into  prison  a  fellow  citizen  who  listened 
dispassionately  to  an  honest  expression  of  opinion  of 
the  enemy. 

Whereupon  they  delicately  assured  me  that  state- 
ments such  as  those  just  quoted  by  me  were  pure 
hypocrisy.  J.  was  not  surprised,  inasmuch  as  I  had 
long  since  discovered  that  this  idea  was  the  officially- 
bottled  milk  upon  which  the  political  children  of  the 
Central  Empires  have  been  nourished. 

They  then  agreed  in  amplifying  this  charge  by  say- 
ing that  the  President  is  a  politician  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  plutocrats  who  are  the  real  rulers  of  Amer- 
ica, these  in  turn  being  influenced  in  international 
matters  by  the  moneyed  classes  of  England. 

This,  then,  is  the  extent  to  which  our  talk  of  mak- 
ing the  world  safe  for  democracy  had  permeated  the 
minds  of  these  Hungarians.  I  found  the  same  stock 
idea  on  why  we  are  in  the  war  among  German  pris- 
oners in  1918,  and  without  variation  I  found  it  domi- 
nating the  minds  of  the  extremists  among  the  Sinn 
Eeiners  when  I  tramped  through  the  mountain  villages 
of  Kerry,  or  up  the  Shannon  bank  to  Claire.  Across  the 
Atlantic,  I  find  it  among  men  of  ambiguous  citizen- 
ship in  our  own  United  States.     Like  a  spider's  web 


112  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

this  idea  runs  over  the  world  from  the  Wilhelmstrasse 
to  bind  the  faithful  and  the  dupes. 

Once  we  became  a  belligerent,  the  German  Govern- 
ment, ever  alert  to  the  prime  importance  of  maintain- 
ing unity,  recognised  fully  the  danger  of  the  wedge 
which  the  American  President  was  seeking  to  drive 
between  the  German  Government  and  the  German  peo- 
ple. The  authorities,  in  consequence,  took  prompt 
measures  to  blunt  this  wedge  through  the  proper  "ed- 
ucation" of  the  people. 

When  the  Wilhelmstrasse  received  President  Wil- 
son's entry  into  war  speech  of  April  2,  1917,  it  promptly 
mobilised  the  Press  for  the  great  campaign  of  enlighten- 
ment. Only  about  two-thirds  of  the  speech  was  consid- 
ered safe  for  the  German  people,  and  much  of  this  was 
carefully  packed  so  that  it  would  not  go  off  when  han- 
dled. The  declarations  that  we  are  not  making  war 
on  the  German  people,  that  Germany's  war  is  autoc- 
racy-made, and  that  it  has  become  a  war  on  civilisa- 
tion, humanity  and  all  nations,  were  reproduced  with 
fair  accuracy. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  charges  that  the  Imperial 
Government  filled  American  communities  and  govern- 
ment offices  with  spies,  even  before  the  war  began,  has 
set  "criminal  intrigues  everywhere  afoot  against  our 
national  unity  of  counsel,  our  peace  within  and  with- 
out, our  industries  and  our  commerce,"  and  that  these 
"intrigues  have  been  carried  on  at  the  instigation, 
with  the  support,  and  even  under  the  personal  direc- 
tions of  official  agents  of  the  Imperial  Government  ac- 
credited to  the  Government  of  the  United  States" — 
all  these  were  suppressed.  This  particular  suppres- 
sion was  necessary  in  order  that  the  German  leaders 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  113 

might  consistently  represent  to  their  people  that  their 
efforts  were  always  peaceful,  that  they  had  sought  to 
avoid  war,  and  that  it  is  their  enemies,  not  they,  who 
insist  that  it  shall  be  uselessly  prolonged. 

^he  German  version  eliminates  also  the  President's 
assertion  that,  "We  are  now  about  to  accept  gauge  of 
battle  with  this  natural  foe  to  liberty." 

In  the  same  papers  with  the  government-edited  ac- 
count of  the  speech,  the  government-inspired  campaign 
of  hate  against  the  President  and  his  countrymen  was 
formally  launched.  This  was  not  a  new  campaign  by 
any  means ;  it  was  merely  a  redoubled  one. 

The  Lokal-Anzeiger  struck  the  keynote  by  denounc- 
ing President  Wilson  as  an  "Anglo-Saxon  fanatic," 
"a  deliberate  liar,"  and  a  "sanctimonious  hypocrite." 
The  gentle  reader  was  then  reminded  of  some  of  the 
names  the  American  editors  and  clergymen  have  called 
the  Germans  during  the  war — "mad  dogs,"  "barbar- 
ians," "scientifically-trained  wild  beasts,"  "a  horde  of 
murderers,"  "Huns,"  "pirates" — and  says  that  "the 
unmeasured  hostility  that  such  expressions  denote  was 
systematically  propagated  and  inflamed  by  President 
Wilson,  who  does  not  hate  the  German  Government 
but  the  German  race." 

The  article,  of  course,  concluded  with  a  threat  ITot 
to  have  done  so  would  have  involved  a  serious  Prus- 
sian omission.  "Tet  America  know  that  Wilson's  as- 
surance that  this  war  is  not  against  the  German  people, 
but  against  the  German  Government,  cannot  lessen  the 
fury  which  his  conduct  throughout  the  world-war  has 
stirred  up,  and  which  his  last  message  has  fanned  into 
flaming  fire.  Por  his  assurance  is  untrue  and  dishon- 
ourable, just  as  his  whole  message  is  from  first  to  last. 


114  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Mr.  Wilson  knows  perfectly  well  that  there  has  never 
been  a  war  in  history  which  has  been  so  little  a  dynastic 
war  or  so  much  the  war  of  a  whole  nation  battling  for 
its  existence  as  the  war  into  which  hate  and  envy  forced 
Germany  to  defend  herself  against  a  league  which  now 
embraoea  both  hemispheres."  (Note  the  thread- worn 
phonograph  record  in  the  last  sentence.) 

Month  after  month  the  German  Press  played  in  this 
key,  it  being  required  every  day  to  denounce  President 
Wilson's  "interference"  with  Germany.  Even  the 
Frankfort  Gazette,  Germany's  leading  financial  organ 
and  a  journal  so  moderate  that  it  is  usually  in  hot 
water  with  the  military,  declared  in  September,  1917: 

"The  German  people  will  make  its  State  institutions 
in  accordance  with  the  high  level  of  its  political,  moral, 
and  intellectual  strength,  and  according  to  its  needs — 
not  as  seems  good  to  the  patronising  narrowness  of 
Herr  Wilson  and  Herr  Lansing.  These  changes  in 
our  constitutional  life  cannot  have  awything  whatever 
to  do  with  the  'peace.  (Observe  that  even  the  Frank- 
fort Gazette  fails  to  grasp  what  we  are  fighting  for.) 
Peace  will  come  when  our  enemies  have  accustomed 
titemselves  to  the  thought  that  no  conditions  can  bo 
dictated  to  us,  but  that  they  must  come  to  an  agree- 
ment with  us  about  the  conditions  of  the  common  life 
of  the  peoples.  After  all  that  has  happened  in  the 
past  three  years  in  West  and  East  and  at  sea,  it  is  a 
disastrous  mistake  to  go  on  talking  to  us  as  if  we  were 
compelled  to  accept  peace  as  a  gift." 

The  Cologne-Gazette,  always  rabidly  anti-American 
as  well  as  anti-British,  has  made  an  interesting  collec- 
tion of  the  denunciations  of  Mr.  Wilson's  note,  which 
have  appeared  in  the  newspapers  of  the  German  So- 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  115 

cialist  Majority.  These  are  correctly  described  as  "vig- 
orous." Indeed,  the  Socialist  Hamburg  Echo  says: 
"The  German  people  do  not  care  a  damn  for  Wilson." 
The  reader  should  never  underestimate  the  impor- 
tance of  the  newspaper  as  a  moulder  of  public  opin- 
ion in  Germany.  Since  the  majority  of  the  people  have 
embraced  State-worship  as  their  politico-religious 
creed,  the  officially-inspired  newspaper  has  a  place  in 
the  modern  German  home  akin  to  that  formerly  held 
by  the  Bible.  The  German  Government,  however, 
does  not  stop  with  the  newspaper,  but  has  mobilised 
the  professors,  pastors,  and  actors  against  the  Wilson 
wedge.*  In  its  battle  against  Wilsonian  utterances,  it 
even  went  to  the  extent,  after  the  reply  to  the  Pope's 
Peace  note  in  September,  1917,  of  mobilising  the 
mayors  and  Town  Councils  throughout  Germany  to 
pass  resolutions  against  Mr.  Wilson.  These  were 
placarded  upon  the  official  bulletin-boards  which  form 
parts  of  the  regulation  scenic  requirements  of  every 
German  town.  The  one  posted  in  Potsdam  will  give 
an  idea  of  the  soothing  diction  which  can  be  inspired 
from  above: 

"Filled  with  contempt,  our  citizens  turn  aside  from 
the  shameless  hypocrite  who  seeks  to  hide  behind  high- 
toned  idealism  his  anxiety  about  the  blood-money  which 
he  has  advanced  to  his  English  colleague  in  ideas  and 
in  business,  and  who  in  his  blindness  dares  to  suggest 
to  the  German  people  that  it  should  come  to  the  help 
of  its  impotent  enemies  by  cutting  itself  to  pieces. 

"The  crafty  hypocrite  Wilson,  who,  with  the  simple 
impudence  of  an  uneducated  parvenu,  has  the  insolence 
to  interfere  in  our  domestic  affairs,  may  be  assured  that 

*  For  position  of  these  in  the  system,  see  "The  Land  of  Deep- 
ening Shadow"— Chapters  III,  IV,  V,  VI,  VII,  VIII,  and  XI. 


ii6  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

none  but  fools  will  believe  that  our  pitiless  enemies  are 
giving  us  good  advice  when  they  try  to  embitter  our 
domestic  unity.  The  more  they  abuse  our  Kaiser  and 
our  Government,  the  more  highly  will  our  people  ap- 
preciate the  full  value  of  Kaiser  and  Government,  which 
nothing  could  replace.  Standing  firmly  and  loyally  to- 
gether, Kaiser  and  people  will  force  the  peace  which  we 
need.  The  German  people,  whose  deep-based  education, 
in  all  spheres  has  led  the  van  of  human  civilisation  for 
centuries — long  before  the  United  States  of  North 
America  existed — and  whose  moral  strength  and  tech- 
nical ability  are  surpassed  by  no  other  people,  can,  if  it 
were  really  necessary,  starve  and  die,  but  can  never 
bow  the  neck  before  a  victorious  enemy.  Let  Herr 
Wilson  take  note  of  that!" 

Apparently  the  German  Government  believed  that 
it  had  satisfactorily  deflected  the  Wilson  wedge  which 
it  referred  to  as  a  "maliciously  and  hopelessly  igno- 
rant attempt  to  separate  the  people  from  their  beloved 
rulers."  For  it  actually  seized  upon  the  President's 
differentiation  as  its  star  war  loan  advertisement. 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  this  advertisement : 

THE  AIN-SWEE  TO  WILSON" 

At  last  the  United  States  has  openly  stepped  to  the 
side  of  England,  whose  cause  it  has  secretly  supported 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war.  Unrestricted  U-boat 
war  is  taken  as  a  pretext.  In  the  course  of  his  plans, 
Wilson  even  employs  the  oft-tried  but  unsuccessful  at- 
tempt to  erect  a  barrier  between  the  German  people 
and  the  German  Government.  How  little  does  Wilson 
know  the  German  people  and  German  nature! 

Never  in  the  history  of  the  German  Empire  has  a 
decision  of  the  government  been  so  unanimously  longed 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  117 

for  and  acclaimed  by  the  whole  people  as  the  freeing  of 
our  U-boats  from  every  fetter  in  the  war  against  Eng- 
land— the  accursed  instigator  and  criminal  prolonger 
of  this  terrible  war. 

The  war  loan  offers  the  opportunity  to  show  Wilson 
what  the  German  people  really  think  of  the  U-boat  ques- 
tion. No  one  is  entitled  to  stand  aloof  from  this  duty  of 
honour.  There  is  still  time.  Subscribe  as  much  as  you 
can,  and  if  you  have  already  subscribed,  raise  your 
subscription  as  much  as  your  means  will  permit !  That 
is 

THE  TRUE  ANSWER  TO  WILSON 

Although  the  German  Government  has  from  the  first 
made  no  pretence  of  hushing  up  the  President's  dif- 
ferentiation between  it  and  the  people,  it  has  grown 
increasingly  strict  in  keeping  from  its  subjects  Presi- 
dent Wilson's  definite  statements  concerning  our  war 
aims  and  determination.  This  strictness  is  indeed  ap- 
plied to  all  Allied  utterances  at  present.  The  method 
is  simple  and  consists  of  two  parts : 

First.  Only  a  summary  of  the  speech,  not  its  actual 
wording,  is  allowed  in  the  newspapers.  In  this  way, 
statements  showing  Allied  right,  Pan-German  lust  of 
conquest  and  the  like,  can  be  obscured. 

Second.  With  the  summary,  every  German  news- 
paper is  required  to  publish  an  appended  note  of  ex- 
planation. This  note  completes  the  distortion  of  the 
issues. 

An  example  of  this  effective  method  is  the  German 
Government's  handling  of  the  President's  first  war- 
anniversary  speech  at  Baltimore  April  6,  1918 — the 
speech  in  which  he  drew  a  lesson  for  the  whole  world 
from  German  duplicity  in  dealing  with  Russia  and  an- 


ii8  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

nounced  that  we  should  use  "force,  force  to  the  utmost, 
force  without  stint  or  limit."  After  failing  to  learn  in 
the  safe-to-read  summary  the  specific  charges  against 
the  Imperial  Government,  the  German  reader  is  enabled 
to  acquire  a  fresh  flush  of  hate  in  the  perusal  of  the 
appended  note  in  his  newspaper-bible : 

"This  speech  turns  history  upside  down.  The  wholei 
world  knows  that  the  tremendous  battle  which  is  now 
being  fought  out  in  the  West  is  the  consequence  of  the 
war  will  of  the  Entente.  Germany  had  given  an  immia- 
takable  declaration  of  her  readiness  to  enter  into  nego- 
tiations. The  Entente  willed  otherwise.  If  Wilson  had 
been  honestly  concerned  about  peace  and  the  avoidance 
of  further  bloodshed,  he  ought  to  have  used  his  influence 
accordingly  with  his  allies.  Instead  of  that  he  did 
nothing  to  prevent  the  Versailles  resolutions.  His  old 
tirades  about  right  and  justice  have  been  contradicted 
afresh  by  the  proceedings  against  Holland.  There  is 
still  a  yawning  gulf  between  his  words  and  his  deeds. 
Now  he  appeals  openly  to  the  utmost  force.  Thus  he 
at  last  declares  clearly  what  the  policy  of  America  and 
her  allies  means — force  against  everything  which  is  in 
their  way  in  the  world.  Germany  will  not  submit  to  the 
yoke  of  force.  That  is  why  she  is  fighting  her  heroio 
war.  Wilson's  speech  is  the  best  propaganda  for  our 
war  loan,  for  it  shows  what  a  lost  war  would  mean  .to 
Germany." 

A  few  weeks  before  the  extremely  important  Balti- 
more speech,  I  grew  greatly  interested  one  evening  in 
Paris,  in  the  discussion  for  and  against  the  President's 
policy  of  insisting  upon  a  distinction  between  the  Ger- 
man people  and  their  Government  in  this  war.  On 
this  particular  evening,  there  was  no  dispute  as  to  the 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  119 

guilt  or  innocence  of  the  German  people.  Every  one 
was  quite  in  agreement  with  the  Socialistic  member 
of  the  Reichstag,  Wolfgang  Heine,  who  said: 

*'The  blame  lies  not  alone  with  the  Junkers  and 
those  like-minded  with  them,  but  with  the  whole  Ger- 
man people." 

The  whole  question  concerned  the  amount  of  suc- 
cess that  the  Wilson  wedge  had  thus  far  achieved  in 
Germany.  Among  those  present  was  an  American 
who  had  come  out  of  Germany  into  Switzerland  a 
short  time  before  and  was  now  on  his  way  home  after 
the  very  difficult  transit  permission  from  the*  French 
had  been  obtained.  His  general  outlook  was  similar 
to  that  of  some  of  the  other  Americans  who  "stayed 
over"  in  Germany  because  they  had  so  endeared  them- 
selves to  the  Wilhelmstrasse  that  they  were  at  a  loss 
to  understand  why  such  a  trifle  as  a  war  between  the 
United  States  and  Germany  should  interrupt  the 
pleasant,  personally-conducted  pursuit  pf  their  profes- 
sion. 

"President  Wilson's  distinction  between  the  people 
in  Germany  and  their  Government,  is  a  mistaken  pol- 
icy," said  the  man  out  of  Germany.  "I  have  seen  it 
first-hand  make  the  people  more  loyal  to  their  rulers." 

Before  explaining  why  in  the  long  run  I  take  the 
opposite  view,  let  us  turn  for  a  moment  to  the  curious 
explanation  of  this  policy  offered  by  the  one  daily 
paper  of  the  German  Empire  which  has  consistently 
fought  for  such  alterations  in  the  German  constitution 
as  would  eliminate  secret  diplomacy  and  make  Ger- 
many a  civil,  and  not  a  military,  state.  Thia  paper 
is  the  Berliner  TagehlattI     At  the  conclusion  of  its 


'i2o  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

hard-fought  campaign,  through  the  summer  of  1917, 
and  into  early  1918  for  democratic  reform  it  said: 

"The  people  of  all  countries  resent  foreign  inter- 
ference with  their  domestic  affairs.  President  Wil- 
son understands  this,  and  he  knew  perfectly  well  what 
he  was  doing  when  he  demanded  parliamentary  gov- 
ernment of  Germany.  He  knew  that  the  majority 
of  Germans  in  favour  of  reform  would  be  so  resentful 
that  they  would  prefer  to  stand  by  the  reactionary 
Junker-annexationists  than  make  a  common  cause  with 
an  outsider.  That  was  exactly  what  he  wished  to  do 
inasmuch  as  the  admittance  in  Germany  of  the  whole 
people  into  the  management  of  their  foreign  affairs, 
would  be  a  fatal  blow  to  him  and  the  other  leaders 
of  the  Allies;  for  it  would  wrench  the  weapons  of  ag- 
itation from  their  hands — ^their  phrase-weapons — that 
this  is  a  struggle  against  militarism,  a  conflict  with 
absolutism." 

In  its  zeal  for  constitutional  reform  (which,  al- 
ways remember,  is  distinct  from  a  desire  for  peace 
that  would  be  acceptable  to  the  Allies)  the  Tageblatt, 
probably  unintentionally,  draws  a  wrong  deduction 
from  President  Wilson's  policy,  as  we  understand  it, 
— a  deduction,  however,  which  corroborates  the  evi- 
dence that  the  German  Government,  through  its  con- 
tinuing ability  to  pervert  the  minds  of  its  subjects, 
has  turned  into  cement  that  which  was  intended  as 
a  wedge.  That  is,  it  has  succeeded  in  doing  it  for 
something  more  than  the  first  year  of  the  war  with 
the  United  States. 

The  comforting  fact  is,  however,  that  Germany  has 
been  seething  internally  like  a  volcano  since  early  in 
1916,  and  is  going  to  seethe  until  the  fires  of  the  Allies 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  121 

cause  her  to  erupt  some  day — or  she  puts  those  fires 
out. 

The  democratic  tendencies,  boiling  up  from  time  to 
time,  have  filled  the  disciples  of  Pan-Germanism, 
Kaiserism,  and  the  kindred  evils,  that  we  are  fighting 
with  so  much  alarm  that  they  are  banding  themselves 
together  to  nip  German  Democracy  in  the  bud.  For, 
if  the  leaders  see  no  likelihood  of  a  popular  upheaval 
why  did  they  insist  at  Brest-Litovsh  that  the  Russians 
must  conduct  no  propaganda  in  the  occupied  prov- 
inces? And  why  do  they  go  to  such  extremes  in  th^ 
way  of  reprisals  as  to  compel  the  British  to  discon- 
tinue the  practice  of  dropping  propaganda  from  air- 
planes ? 

The  Kaiser's  temporising  talk  always  causes  appre- 
hension in  the  Junkers,  who  believe  in  the  delightfully 
simple  policy  of  never  yielding  an  inch  at  home  or 
abroad.  That  is  why  the  Crown  Prince  is  more  pop- 
ular with  them  than  is  his  father.  They  are  the  real 
rulers  of  Prussia,  and  their  motto  is  still: 

"Unser  Koenig  absolut 
Wenn  er  unsern  Willen  tut." 
(Our  King  is  absolute  if  he  does  our  will.) 

Personally,  I  do  not  believe  that  the  Kaiser  intends 
to  give  any  real,  lasting  power  of  self-government  to 
his  subjects.  Although  he  ejected  Bismarck  he  has 
not  ejected  his  method  of  promise  and  withdrawal. 
In  defending  his  acceptance  of  German  universal  suf- 
frage in  1866  for  the  North  German  Bund  Bismarck 
explained  the  whole  process  of  making  sham  domestic 
concessions  in  time  of  war,  and  paying  temporary 
"blackmail"  to  the  "liberty-mongers"  in  the  confident 
belief  that  after  the  immediate  object — ^victory — ^had 


122  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

been  gained  the  "damage"   done  by  tbe  concessions 
can  be  repaired- 

I  present  Bismarck's  own  words,  which  I  quote  be- 
low as  further  evidence  of  my  contention  in  Chapter 
II  that — "Prussia  does  not  yield,  she  only  seems  to 
yield."  We  should  keep  these  reminiscences  of  Bis- 
marck's in  mind  until  we  are  done  with  Prussianism, 
that  we  may  not  be  further  duped. 

"I  determined  to  regulate  the  movements  of  our 
home  policy  in  accordance  with  the  question  whether  it 
would  support  or  injure  the  impression  abroad  of  our 
power  and  coherenoa 

"I  argued  to  myself  that  our  first  great  aim  must  be 
independence  and  security  in  our  foreign  relations; 
that  to  this  end  not  only  was  actual  removal  of  internal 
dissensions  requisite,  but  also  any  appearance  of  such  a 
thing  must  be  avoided  in  the  sight  of  the  foreign  Pow- 
ers and  of  Germany.  If  we  first  gained  independence 
of  foreign  influence,  we  should  then  be  able  to  move 
freely  in  our  internal  development,  and  to  organise  our 
institutions  in  as  liberal  or  reactionary  a  manner  as 
should  seem  right  and  fitting.  If  possible  I  felt  that 
we  should  adjourn  all  domestic  questions  until  we  had 
secured  our  national  aims  abroad. 

"Until  that  should  be  accomplished  I  was  ready,  if 
necessary,  to  pay  blackmail  to  the  Opposition,  in  order 
to  be  in  a  position  in  the  first  place  to  throw  into  the 
scale  our  full  power,  and  diplomatically  to  use  the  ap- 
pearance of  this  united  power  and,  in  case  of  need,  even 
to  have  the  possibility  of  letting  loose  national  revolu- 
tionary movements  against  our  enemies. 

"Looking  to  the  necessity,  in  a  fight  against  an  over- 
whelming foreign  Power,  of  being  able,  in  extreme  need, 
to  use  even  revolutionary  means,  I  had  had  no  hesita- 
tion whatever  in  throwing  into  the  frying-pan  the  most 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  123 

powerful  ingredient  known  at  that  time  to  liberty- 
mongers,  namely,  imiversal  suffrage,  so  as  to  frighten  off 
foreign  monarchies  from  trying  to  stick  a  finger  into  our 
national  omelette.  I  never  doubted  that  the  German 
people  would  be  strong  and  clever  enough  to  free  them- 
selves from  the  suffrage  as  soon  as  they  realised  that  it 
was  a  harmful  institution. 

"The  acceptance  of  universal  suffrage  was  a  weapon 
in  the  war  against  Austria  and  other  foreign  coimtries, 
in  the  war  for  German  unity,  as  well  as  a  threat  to  use 
the  last  weapon  in  a  struggle  against  coalitions.  In  a 
war  of  this  sort,  when  it  becomes  a  matter  of  life  and 
death,  one  does  not  look  at  the  weapons  that  one  seizes 
nor  the  value  of  what  one  destroys  in  using  them; 
one  is  guided  at  the  moment  by  no  other  thought  than 
the  issue  of  the  war,  and  the  preservation  of  one's 
external  independence.  The  settling  of  affairs  and 
reparation  of  the  damage  have  to  take  place  after  the 
peace." 

But  the  stubborn  Junker  is  opposed  to  every  ves- 
tige of  even  apparent  or  temporary  yielding  to  de- 
mocracy, consequently  a  group  of  the  most  powerful 
have  formed  a  clique  which  they  call  the  "League  of 
the  Emperor's  Faithful."  This  is  an  organisation 
formed  to  supplement  the  Tirpitz  Fatherland  party 
and  support  its  agitation  for  the  suppression  of  sen- 
timent in  favour  of  Parliamentary  government.  One 
of  the  "Faithful"  is  a  former  Junker  member  of  the 
Reichstag,  Herr  von  Oldenburg- Januschau,  who  immor- 
talised himself  a  few  years  before  the  war  by  declar- 
ing that  the  Kaiser  should  always  be  in  a  position  "to 
send  a  lieutenant  and  ten  men  to  close  up  the  damned 
Keichstag." 


124  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

jln  a  remarkable  petition  to  William  II  the  League 
concludes  with  vigour: 

"Parliamentary  government  ?  Bah !  The  old  Fred- 
erick, called  the  Great  even  by  his  enemies,  would  turn 
in  his  grave  if  he  knew  of  the  shame  we  are  now  going 
through.  Why  is  the  Crown  looking  on  in  silence? 
Why  does  it  tolerate  these  things  ?  Why  does  it  pro- 
mote them?  There  is  but  one  explanation.  It  must 
be  feared  that  the  throne  is  tottering.  It  can  only  be 
the  half-admitted,  half-concealed  threats  of  the  Socialist 
leaders  to  start  a  revolution  that  have  induced  the  man 
who  was  once  the  most  convinced  advocate  of  the  Divine 
Right  of  Kings  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  the  democrati- 
sation  of  his  Empire.  May  God  give  him,  who  is  en- 
dowed so  richly  with  talent  in  other  directions,  the  in- 
destructible calm  and  firmness  of  a  William  I. 

"An  Emperor  William  II,  who  in  a  spirit  of  weak 
submission  continues  to  promote  the  democratisation  of 
Germany  would  be  an  unintelligible  stranger  to  us.  To 
an  Emperor  William  II  who  with  firm  hand  tears  into 
shreds  the  artificially  woven  veil  of  democratic  fog; 
who  sends  to  the  devil  all  those  who  would  blackmail 
the  throne  out  of  its  rights;  who  scatters  to  the  four 
winds  all  those  who  seek  to  obstruct  the  destined  de- 
velopment of  Prussia  and  Germany — to  such  a  Kaiser 
the  German  nation,  barring  a  few  unpatriotic  rowdieS 
and  their  heedless  followers,  would  look  up  joyfully, 
accord  him  their  love,  honour,  and  affection,  and 
breathe  freely  again  in  the  consciousness  that  all  is 
well  with  our  glorious  Fatherland.  German  Kaiser,  you 
have  the  choice !" 

To  help  along  the  campaign,  the  Kreuiz  Zeitung 
(Gazette  of  the  Cross),  the  chief  organ  of  the  Military 
in  Prussia,  quickly  collected  by  subscription  a  million 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  125 

dollars  to  be  used  immediately  in  titie  fight  against 
democratic  tendencies  in  Germany. 

Most  important  of  all,  however,  is  the  campaign 
of  the  Krupp  Press.  Not  only  will  the  Great  In- 
dustrialists of  Rhineland  cast  guns  to  blast  those  who 
oppose  their  will,  but  they  will  forge  printed  words 
into  the  even  more  deadly  weapons  of  manacles  of  the 
mind. 

The  Krupp  methods  fall  into  three  groups: 

1.  To  own  newspapers  directly. 

2.  To  control  great  numbers  of  newspapers  and 
magazines  through  heavy  advertising  subsidies. 

3.  To  stamp  out  newspapers  which  advocate  demoo- 
racy,  and  a  peace  with  no  annexations  in  the  West. 

I  would  remind  the  reader  that  the  Krupps  and 
other  grfeat  manufacturers  of  war  material  have  piled 
up  mountainous  fortunes  during  the  war.  For  a  long 
time  they  successfully  fought  the  imposition  of  an  ex- 
cess war-profits  tax.  In  February,  1918,  I  learned 
through  exceedingly  reliable  Swedish  sources  that  the 
Krupps  were  launching  one  of  the  most  ambitious 
schemes  of  unsavoury  big  business  methods  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  extermination  of  competition. 

ISTewspapers,  as  everybody  knows,  are  made  from 
wood-pulp.  Therefore,  what  could  be  simpler  than 
planning  to  control  the  wood-pulp  supply  of  Europe 
in  order  to  force  such  radicals  as  the  Berliner  Tage- 
hlatt  to  the  wall?  They  couldn't  get  it  from  the 
United  States  and  Canada  during  the  war,  and  the 
tariff  barrier  could  keep  it  out  after  the  war.  Hence 
the  activity  of  Krupp  agents  in  Germany,  Austria- 
Hungary,  Scandinavia  and  Russia  to  buy  up  the  wood- 
pulp  manufacture.     In  this,  to  be  sure,  they  are  killing 


126  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

two  birds  with  one  stone,  since  this  commodity  has  sup- 
planted cotton  in  their  manufacture  of  propulsive  am- 
munition. 

It  strikes  me  as  a  significant  coincidence  that  within 
a  month  after  my  discovery  of  the  octopus  wood-pulp 
project  Theodor  Wolff,  the  editor  of  the  Berliner  Tage- 
hlatt,  attacked  the  Krupp  Press  for  its  ambitious 
schemes  for  the  annexation  of  the  whole  German  Press 
— and  consequently  whole  Grerman  public  opinion. 

Though  Herr  Wolff  does  not  mention  wood-pulp, 
he  gives  interesting  details  of  the  founding  at  Essen 
of  an  "advertisement  company*'  which  is  known  as  the 
"Ala."  This  company,  composed  of  a  number  of  the 
most  prominent  German  Industrialists,  has  now  trans- 
ferred its  headquarters  to  Berlin,  where  it  will  be  con- 
trolled by  Herr  Hugenberg,  a  prominent  director  of 
Krupp's.  It  is  admitted  that  the  business  of  the 
"Ala"  is  to  supply  advertisements  to  all  sorts  of  news- 
papers and  periodicals  which  undertake  to  promote 
the  Pan-German  policy.  With  it  the  Industrialists 
have  founded  what  they  call  a  "German  Archive" — 
an  institution  which  is  to  watch  the  German  and  for- 
eign press,  and  to  collect  and  arrange  information 
about  all  newspapers  for  the  guidance  of  the  "Ala." 
This  "Archive"  is  merely  a  drawing-room  name  for 
a  detective  agency,  and  the  "Ala"  itself  is,  as  Herr 
Wolff  says,  "to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  corruption 
and  bribery  organisation." 

Wolff  shows  that  the  same  clique,  with  a  lesser  or- 
ganisation, conducted  the  industrial-enlightenment  cam- 
paign, which  organised  the  political  campaign  about 
Morocco,  the  campaign  that  threatened  to  plunge 
Europe  tnto  war  in  1911. 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  127 

The  Krupps  and  their  colleagues  are  now  seeking  to 
fill  every  German  with  the  spirit  to  hold  out  and  bear 
any  sacrifice  in  order  to  achieve  the  annexation  which 
will  give  them  commercial  supremacy  and  lessen  their 
taxes.  They  are  organising  careful  press  campaigns 
about  every  conceivable  annexation  of  territory  and 
assertion  of  German  power.  In  addition  to  their  rap- 
idly increasing  control  of  newspapers  they  are  flood- 
ing the  country  with  pamphlets  and  handbills,  some 
of  which  are  learned  and  scientific,  while  others,  cir- 
culated "confidentially,"  contain  all  sorts  of  vague  and 
unfounded  statements  devised  to  excite  uninformed 
and  "patriotic"  opinion.  These  campaigns,  needless 
to  say,  are  conducted  at  utter  variance  with  the  policy 
which  the  Government  professes  in  public  lullaby- 
speeches. 

Concurrently,  the  Kruppa  conduct  a  steady  cam- 
paign against  democracy.  They  know  democracy 
would  mean  that  they  could  exploit  the  toil  of  their 
workers  to  less  degree.  They  know  that  democracy 
might  demand  an  eight-hour  working-day  as  in  Amer- 
ica rather  than  the  twelve  and  thirteen-hour  working- 
day  which,  in  part,  has  enabled  them  to  "dump"  their 
goods  into  other  countries  to  force  foreign  competitors 
to  the  walk 

To  be  sure  the  German  working-men  are  blessed  with 
good  sanitary  conditions  for  the  most  part,  but  on  the 
other  hand,  they  know  nothing  of  that  surplus  of 
energy  which  I  find  in  American  factories  where  men 
throw  a  ball  around  during  lunch  hour,  or  play  games 
after  the  work  of  the  day  is  done.  The  toiling  Gei-man 
is  more  prone  to  take  his  recreation  in  a  sitting  pos- 
ture in  close  proximity  to  a  stein  of  beer.     The  Krupps 


128   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

know  too  that  democracy  tends  to  eliminate  secret 
plunder  agreements  between  nations,  tends  toward  peace 
rather  than  war.  Under  democracy  they  would  lose 
control  of  the  reins  of  power  in  Germany  and  the  pos- 
sibility of  control  of  the  reins  of  power  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  globe.  So  they  will  have  none  of  democ- 
racy. It  means  their  life.  They  will  fight  it  to  the 
death.  Hence  it  is  fitting  that  in  their  new  and  great- 
est campaign  they  start  off  with  the  following  para- 
graph throughout  their  Press: 

"The  most  dangerous  enemy  of  the  German  people 
is  Democracy.  It  is  Democracy  that  we  shall  have  to 
fight  when  our  arms  have  long  been  at  rest  and  the  far- 
advanced  frontiers  of  the  new  and  greater  Germany 
have  been  secured — in  spite  of  July  19  and  its  Reichs- 
tag majority — in  a  German  security-peace." 

From  which,  one  may  gather,  the  German  reader  may 
joyfully  infer  that  when  Britain,  France,  Italy  and 
America  have  been  defeated,  the  war  will  begin  again 
with  cheers  in  the  name  of  the  German  people  against 
the  German  people  themselves* 

The  "Anti-Democratic  Catechism"  circulated  by  the 
million  among  German  and  Austro-Hungarian  troops 
is  one  of  the  Krupp  pamphlets  in  the  world's  great  ink- 
battle  for  the  control — or  in  our  case,  the  liberation — 
of  the  minds  of  the  German  people.  A  few  extracts 
will  show  the  calibre  of  Essen's  mental-projectiles : 

1.  There  is  nothing  more  intolerable  than  Democracy. 

2.  In  democratic  countries  money  plays  the  chief 
role. 

3.  Some  of  our  Socialists  strive  to  enforce  a  peace 
of  renunciation  by  provoking  strikes  and  street  demon- 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  129 

strations.  To-day  any  one  who  does  not  do  his  utmost 
to  nip  the  democratic  international  movement  in  the  bud, 
is  working  for  the  enemy.  He  is  not  working  for  true 
freedom  and  equality  but  for  the  interests  of  a  gang 
of  international  rascals. 

4.  France's  revolution  formula — liberty,  equality, 
fraternity — should  read:  insubordination,  dishonour, 
hate. 

5.  America  is  the  land  of  corruption  and  bribery — 
a  thing  wholly  unknown  among  us  Germans. 

G.  In  the  East  wide  areas  now  in  our  hands  provide 
us  with  the  necessary  colonisation  areas  for  German 
peasants.  We  must  hold  these,  and  in  the  West  we 
must  hold  the  important  coal  and  iron  regions  which 
we  occupy  and  which  we  gained  with  so  much  good 
German  blood.  Above  all,  we  must  hold  the  coast  of 
Flanders." 

Another  leaflet,  explaining  German  military  suc- 
cesses in  a  light  calculated  to  undermine  faith  in  de- 
mocracy in  the  minds  of  a  militarily-nurtured  populace, 
will  enable  the  German  soldier  in  his  spare  time  in 
barracks,  billets  and  trenches  to  understand  the  dif- 
ferences between  Kaiser  armies  and  Parliamentary 
armies.  Indeed,  the  deductions  drawn  in  this  extraor- 
dinarily interesting  circular  should  prove  as  interest- 
ing to  us  as  to  the  Germans. 

"1,  One  of  the  fundamental  characteristics  of  the 
world-war  is  what  is  formulated  as  the  opposition  be- 
tween Parliament  Army  and  Kaiser  Army.  The  Ger- 
man Empire  and  the  Monarchies  that  are  allied  with  it 
can  to-day  be  confident  that  their  Kaiser  Armies  will 
hold  the  field  against  the  Parliament  Armies  of  Eng- 
land, France,  Italy  and  America. 


1130  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

"The  antagonism  between  the  military  authority, 
which  demands  the  domination  that  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  the  control  of  armies,  and  a  Parliament  which 
is  jealous  of  its  right  of  control  threatens  to  interfere 
with  and  to  weaken  the  unity  of  power  and  of  leadership 
in  war.  On  the  other  hand,  such  dangers  are  out  of 
the  question  when  the  civil  and  military  authority  are 
absolutely  united  in  the  personality  of  a  Monarch  who 
is  protected  from  Parliamentary  interference  by  the 
autocracy  which  is  guaranteed  to  him  by  the  Consti- 
tution. 

"We  can  only  welcome  the  fact  that  now,  immediately 
before  the  final  decisions  of  the  war,  Russia  is  imperilled 
because  the  war-power,  which  hitherto  was  subject  en- 
tirely to  the  absolute  authority  of  the  Czar,  is  put  under 
the  Duma  and  the  Revolutionary  parties.  The  neces- 
sary unity  in  the  organism  of  the  whole  military  forces 
is  most  securely  guaranteed  by  the  sovereign  will  of 
a  Monarch — in  Germany  hy  an  Emperor  who  is  in- 
dependent of  the  will  of  Parliament.  Thirty  years  ago 
Bismarck  powerfully  resisted  a  Reichstag  majority 
when  it  attempted,  in  Bismarck's  words,  *to  turn  the 
Imperial  Army  into  a  Parliamentary  Army.' 

"It  is  to  be  hoped  that  Bismarck's  successors  will  at  all 
times  see  as  effectively  as  he  did  to  the  defeat  of  all 
attempts  by  a  Parliamentary  democracy  to  diminish  the 
perfect  power  of  the  Emperor  and  War  Lord. 

"2.  Order  and  unity,  guaranteed  by  a  firmly  an- 
chored Monarchy,  which  has  not  yet  been  democratised, 
and  which  by  strength  of  will  masters  all  antagonisms, 
are  two  of  the  chief  foundations  and  main  sources  of 
military  and  economic  strength  in  war.  That  belligerent 
who  has  these  two  things  always  at  his  disposal  retains 
a  secure  superiority  over  enemies  among  whom  these 
things  are  threatened. 

"In  the  midst  of  a  war  which  has  already  lasted  a  long 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  131 

time  and  presses  hard  upon  the  broad  masses  of  the  peo- 
ple— and  especially  when  the  war  is  reaching  the  final 
decisions — ^the  lack  of  an  indisputably  secured  Govern- 
ment must  have  a  checking  and  paralysing  effect  upon 
the  war-will  in  face  of  the  dangers  which  threaten 
from  starving  and  excited  mobs.  Warlike  eflSciency 
cannot  be  associated  with  lack  of  order  and  lack  of 
unity.  The  revolutionary  events  in  Russia  give  a  pic- 
ture of  the  lengths  to  which  democratic  tendencies  can 
go — tendencies  which,  according  to  their  admirers  in 
Germany,  must  not  be  resisted  by  any  firm  dam.  But 
waves  can  be  broken — even  democratic  waves,  irresisti- 
ble though  they  pretend  to  be.  Where  the  will  is  lack- 
ing for  this,  even  the  most  powerful  Monarchy  must 
gradually  be  undermined.  The  safety  of  the  German 
future  will  continue  to  depend  not  least  upon  such  a 
Monarchy  as  the  strong-willed  centre  of  order  and 
unity." 

This  militaristic  and  anti-democratic  flood  of  prop- 
aganda has  the  greatest  effect  among  the  German  troops 
in  that  it  is  accompanied  by  supporting  currents  from 
some  Social  Democratic  leaders  who  are  happy  to  do 
the  Government's  bidding  for  the  right  to  wear  a  bit 
of  ribbon  or  the  comfort  of  a  Government  job.  The 
Social  Democratic  Army  Post,  for  example,  is  a  well- 
edited  magazine  published  in  Berlin,  which  circulates 
freely  through  the  Kaiser's  armies,  ^t  purports  to  be 
a  purely  Socialist  organ,  issued  twice  a  month  from 
the  headquarters  of  the  Socialist  Majority. 

The  point  is  that  it  is  promoted  and  subsidised  by 
the  German  Foreign  Office  in  a  manner  similar  to 
the  Continental  Times,  the  organ  which  fooled  so  many 
gullible  American  visitors  to  the  Fatherland. 

The   Field   Post    practices    a   studied   moderation 


[132  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

which  is  very  e£Fective.  Its  leading  themes  are  the  Ger- 
man Grovernment's  deep  love  of  peace  (let  the  reader 
remember  that  this  is  a  Socialistic  organ  for  Socialistic 
readers  at  the  close  of  the  fourth  year  of  the  war),  the 
patriotic  sincerity  of  the  Socialist  Majority  and  the 
abomination  of  the  Independent  Socialists,  the  unrea- 
sonableness of  the  enemy  and  the  steady  progress  of 
the  "peace  offensive" — i.e.,  the  onward  march  of  the 
Invisible  Army. 

How  such  work  marches  hand  in  hand  with  that  of 
the  Krupps  and  the  Militarists  in  blocking  the  Wilson 
wedge,  may  be  seen  from  a  few  typical  quotations: 

"i.  The  hope  of  a  general  peace  is  at  present  not  very 
great  It  looks  as  if  the  French  and  English  absolutely 
desire  a  decision  in  the  West  with  American  help  (writ- 
ten on  the  eve  of  the  great  German  offensive,  February, 
1918).  Unless  these  untaught  people  make  an  end  of 
their  present  governments,  they  will  hardly  get  peace. 

"2.  We  Germans  desire  nothing  more  than  we  desire 
an  early  peace,  but  we  decidedly  refuse  to  submit  to 
Wilfion,  to  be  starved  by  England,  or  to  commit  suicide 
on  the  advice  of  Russian  revolutionists.  Terrible  though 
every  hour  is  which  separates  us  from  peace,  we  must 
inform  our  enemies  that,  although  we  Germans  have  al- 
ways required  a  Utile  domestic  quarrelling,  we  stUl 
present  an  absoluiely  united  front  to  the  enemy  without. 

"3.  If  we  were  in  the  first  year  of  war,  it  might  per- 
haps be  said  that  Germany  ought  to  set  the  good  example, 
and  that  the  others  would  follow.  But  who  can  still 
seriously  believe  that  Wilson,  Lloyd  George,  and  Cle- 
menceau  would  follow.  Of  course,  if  it  must  be,  we 
shall  n^otiate  even  with  these  'statesmen.'  But  let 
there  be  no  deception  about  the  fact  that,  as  long  as 
these  politicians  with  their  smashing  schemes  of  con- 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  133 

quest  remain  in  power,  it  will  hardly  be  possible  to 
reach  an  agreement.  Of  course  this  is  now  a  rosy  pros- 
pect, but  the  German  Socialists  do  not  stimulate  opti- 
mism either  in  peace  or  war." 

And  do  all  the  Socialists  swallow  all  this?  They  do 
not.  My  reliable  advices  from  Germany  leave  me  in 
no  doubt  that  approximately  the  same  proportion  of 
"doubting  Thomases"  continues  to  exist  as  when  I  left 
there.  To  be  sure,  they  do  most  of  their  doubting 
under  the  safety  of  silence. 

A  little  anecdote  may  illustrate  the  state  of  mind  of 
the  non-swallowers. 

One  early  autumn  day,  1916,  I  was  walking  alone 
by  the  Elba  River  towards  Konigstein.  I  couldn't 
help  feeling  bright-spirited  as  I  swung  along  with  my 
eyes  drinking  in  the  lovely  Saxon  landscape  to  which 
nature  has  been  so  kind.  Back  in  Hennersdorf,  the 
little  children,  just  released  from  school,  were  strip- 
ping the  last  blackberries  from  the  bushes  that  bordered 
the  highroad,  while  ahead  the  Konigstein  rose  ab- 
ruptly from  the  waters,  with  the  sun  burnishing  the 
old  fortress  that  crowned  its  summit,  once  a  sentinel 
against  Austria  but  now  the  prison  of  British  officers. 

In  a  beet  field  that  bordered  the  road,  a  solitary  man 
was  working. 

"Looks  like  a  good  crop,"  I  greeted  cheerily. 

"Good  enough,  J  suppose,"  he  muttered  without  en- 
thusiasm. 

He  frowned  and  seemed  out  of  keeping  with  the 
peaceful  sunlit  country.  He  clearly  had  a  grievance, 
which  made  him  journalistically  interesting.  So  I  tar- 
ried. 


134  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

My  accent  soon  revealed  in  the  patches  of  conversa- 
tion whicli  followed  that  I  was  not  a  countryman  of  his. 
When  I  told  him  that  I  was  an  American  I  respect- 
fully paused  to  await  the  usual  fusillade  of  abuse 
against  our  munition-making,  one  of  the  many  little 
customs,  too  numerous  to  mention,  which  caused  brain- 
storms amongst  the  Kaiser's  subjects.  I  felt  embar- 
rassed when  it  did  not  come. 

On  the  contrary,  after  some  questioning  on  his  part, 
he  felt  that  he  could  safely  ventilate  his  feelings  to  one 
who  had  escaped  what  to  him  was  clearly  the  misfor- 
tune of  having  been  born  under  the  German  flag.  Ho 
blurted  out:    "I  am  a  soldier." 

"Why  do  you  not  wear  your  uniform?"  I  asked. 

"I  am  home  on  leave  for  five  weeks  to  work  in  the 
fields,"  he  explained.  "^E  hate  the  uniform.  I'm  glad  to 
be  out  of  it." 

"Soldiering  has  ita  unpleasant  occasions,"  I  con- 
soled. 

"It  is  all  unpleasant  with  me."  He  talked  rapidly 
and  with  anger.  "Did  you  see  that  big  white  build- 
ing back  across  the  river? — ^Well,  that's  a  prison  for 
criminals — for  men  that  murder  and  rob.  They  are 
treated  better  than  we  who  go  out  and  fight  for  our 
country." 

This  is  not  the  general  sentiment  in  the  German 
anny,  so  I  remonstrated  with  the  man  that  perhaps 
he  had  been  unfortunate  in  being  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  one  of  the  more  brutal  of  the  under-officers. 

"There  are  plenty  who  feel  the  same  as  I  do,"  he 
argued.  "We're  tired  of  sacrificing  ourselves  to  enrich 
landowners  and  industrialists.  We  are  especially  sick 
of  the  way  oux  newspapers  lie  to  us  about  the  good- 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  135 

nesa  of  our  govenunent  and  our  dnty,  always  duty.  I 
can  not  understand  why  you  remain  in  Germany.  I 
wanted  to  go  to  America  before  the  war,  but  my  wif© 
was  afraid  of  seasickness,  so,  like  a  fool,  I  stayed." 

And  the  man  actually  sobbed  at  the  recollection  of 
the  chance  he  had  missed-  "Can  you  leave  Germany  V^ 
he  asked. 

That  was  the  question  that  had  been  bothering  me 
for  months,  but  to  him  I  merely  said,  "Of  course!" 

Then  his  passion  burst  all  bounds. 

"You  are  my  friend,"  he  said.  "When  you  reach 
America,  tell  the  people  not  to  believe  anything  that 
comes  from  our  Government  Tell  them  that  the  Ger^ 
man  newspapers  lie.  But  do  not  wait  until  you  reach 
home,"  he  hurried  on  excitedly.  "You  are  an  Amer- 
ican, not  a  German  subject,  and  you  can  do  things 
that  we  dare  not  do.  Write  to  your  newspapers  at  onoe 
that  the  German  newspapers  are  full  of  lies." 

jl  was  about  to  explain  that  journalists  had  to  sub- 
mit all  "copy"  to  the  official  censor,  and  that  it  was 
not  his  custom  to  pass  just  that  kind  of  material.  Be- 
sides there  were  considerations  of  one's  health  and  all 
that  sort  of  thing.  Before  I  could  reply,  however, 
there  was  a  clatter  of  hoofs  where  the  road  turned  up 
from  the  river,  and  two  cavalry  officers  galloped  into 
view.  A  frightened  look  passed  over  the  face  of  the 
man,  whose  tongue  was  silenced  by  the  sight  of  author- 
ity. "You  are  my  friend,  remember,"  he  said  softly. 
"Just  make  believe  you  stopped  because  I  asked  you  the 
time  of  day." 

So  I  pulled  out  my  watch  and  said  "Half-past  four,*' 
then  passed  on  leaving  one  of  the  seventy  millions  to 
work  in  the  beet-field  while  his  thoughts  turned  bit- 


136  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

terly  to  another  land  and  the  life  that  might  have 
been. 

An  exception,  you  will  say !  That  he  was  unusually 
vehement,  I  admit;  yet  I  did  meet  others  with  like 
sentiments  when  German  spirits  sank  to  their  lowest 
in  late  1916. 

I  agreed,  at  that  time,  that  the  number  of  Germans 
who  would  welcome  a  revolution  which  would  result  in 
the  overthrow  of  their  present  government  was  between 
fifteen  and  twenty  per  cent. 

In  the  early  summer  of  1918  my  informants  in  Ger- 
many assured  me  that  the  majority  of  the  people,  hope- 
ful because  of  the  peace  with  Russia  and  the  victories 
in  the  West,  again  returned  to  the  boastful  tone  of 
the  first  two  years.  Therefore,  they  said,  the  fifteen 
to  twenty  per  cent,  should  be  reduced  by  five,  until  the 
Allied  offensive  again  swung  back  the  scales  in  the  late 
summer. 

The  extremists,  let  me  again  remind  the  reader,  are 
not  of  the  main  body  of  Socialists,  but  make  up  the 
supporters  of  the  eighteen  Socialist  Independents  in 
the  Reichstag.  !N'eedless  to  repeat  they  do  not  have  a 
free  hand,  but  are  steadily  fought  by  Junkers  and  Ma- 
jority Socialists  alike.  The  official  summary  of  the 
sentences  passed  in  May  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
German  Empire  at  Leipzig  on  twelve  persons  charged 
with  treason  and  other  offences  makes  an  interesting 
revelation  of  the  thoroughness  of  the  German  system  of 
suppression.  The  prisoners,  who  received  sentences 
of  from  two  and  one-half  to  eight  years'  penal  servitude, 
were  all  described  in  court  as  adherents  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Socialists  and  all  the  offences  were  concerned 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  137 

with  the  unlawful  circulation  of  leaflets.     The  convicts 
are  described  as  follows : 

"(1)  A  shop  girl,  aged  23  (two  and  a  half  years' 
penal  servitude)  ;  (2)  a  factory  girl,  aged  19 ;  (3)  a  fac- 
tory girl,  aged  20;  (4)  a  working  woman,  aged  21 
(four  years'  penal  servitude)  ;  (5)  a  woman  librarian, 
aged  27;  (6)  a  mason's  apprentice,  aged  17;  (7)  a 
bookkeeper,  aged  23;  (8)  a  draughtsman's  apprentice, 
aged  17 ;  (9)  a  printer,  aged  66  (four  years'  penal  servi- 
tude) ;  (10)  a  mason's  wife,  aged  36  (18  months'  penal 
servitude);  (11)  a  shopkeeper,  aged  26  (eight  years' 
penal  servitude) ;  and  (12)  a  piano-maker's  apprentice, 
aged  16  (two  and  a  half  years'  imprisonment). 

In  no  country  in  the  world  have  I  seen  so  many 
placards  offering  a  reward  for  the  detection  of  crime 
as  in  Germany.  The  highly-developed  national  char- 
acteristic of  spying  upon  one  another  and  cackling  to 
officialdom  after  the  manner  of  the  "good  boy"  in  school 
is  proving  of  great  value  to  the  police  in  the  suppres- 
sion of  anything  tending  to  undermine  the  unity  of 
will  to  win. 

The  following  notice  was  tacked  up  all  over  Berlin 
in  the  spring  of  1917: 

THE  COMMANDANT  11^  THE  MAKK  OF 
BRANDENBUKG  ANNOUNCES 
the  reward  of  3,000  marks  for  information 
leading  to  the  arrest  of  the  writer  of  the 
pamphlet :    "The  Lessons  of  The  Great  Strike 
of  The  People." 

Though  the  chief  of  the  military  police,  a  notoriously 
stern  oppressor  of  anything  savouring  of  democracy, 
offered  the  reward  it  is  not  without  significance  that 


"138   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

the  man  who  collected  it  is  an  avowed  Socialist  living 
in  itTeukoln,  a  manufacturing  suburb  of  Berlin. 

After  Liebknecht  was  sentenced  to  five  years'  penal 
servitude  in  the  summer  of  1917,  the  chief  remaining 
thorns  in  the  thick  side  of  autocracy  have  been  Haase 
and  Dittmann.  Haase  impressed  me  as  the  most  able 
man  among  the  German  Socialists;  indeed,  he  is  one 
of  the  sharpest  minds  I  have  ever  encountered.  He 
has  a  poise  that  the  impetuous  Liebknecht  lacked,  which 
has  enabled  him  somehow  to  work  within  the  drastic 
German  law.  Dittmann,  honest  in  his  convictions,  and 
fearless  in  his  denunciation,  had  been  dogged  by  deteo- 
tives  since  late  1916  when  he  delivered  his  scathing 
attack  in  the  Keichstag  upon  the  reign  of  terror  sys- 
tem of  preventive  arrest.*  They  got  him  on  a  tech- 
nicality during  the  quickly-suppressed  riots  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1918,  which  enabled  them  to  put  him  out  of  the 
way  for  five  years. 

His  colleague.  Deputy  Bauer,  who  enjoys  the  en- 
viable distinction  of  having  had  more  speeches  sup- 
pressed than  any  other  member,  aptly  summarised  the 
situation  when  he  said  in  June,  1918:  "The  Censor- 
ship is  becoming  more  and  more  the  instrument  of  an- 
nexationists and  stand-patters  on  political  reform.  In 
Breslau  the  general  in  command  not  only  prohibits 
public  democratic  gatherings,  but  refuses  to  allow  party 
members  to  meet  in  one  another's  homes.  The  party's 
local  secretary  was  even  proceeded  against  by  the  army 
authorities  because  he  forwarded  to  them  a  petition  by 
the  wives  of  soldiers.  In  my  own  case,  the  command- 
ing general  has  made  it  impossible  for  me  to  speak  to 

•For  this  dramatic  luid  informative  speech,  see  "The  Land  ot 
Deepening  Shadow" — Chapter  XV. 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  139 

my  own  constituents.  On  the  other  hand,  the  cam- 
paign of  the  annexationists  is  officially  encouraged." 

The  common  idea  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  that  the  Germans  as  a  whole  are  yearning  for  a 
democracy  such  as  ours  is  in  direct  contradiction  to 
the  case.  We  have  flaws  to  which  the  German  author- 
ities spare  no  pains  to  draw  the  attention  of  their  sub- 
jects. These  flaws  gain  added  weight  in  German  minds 
through  the  fact  that  for  upwards  of  four  years  they 
have  been  somewhat  more  than  holding  the  rest  of  the 
world  at  bay.  Until  a  man  sets  his  heart  on  something 
difficult  to  attain  and  makes  up  his  mind  that  he  will 
do  everything  to  attain  it,  his  achievements  will  not 
be  great.  So  it  is  with  a  whole  people.  The  Germans 
this  far  have  a  confused  idea  as  to  how  much  they 
really  want  democracy.  They  are  still  clannish  amongst 
the  nations.  There  are  less  "internationalists"  among 
their  Socialists  than  among  the  Socialists  of  other  coun- 
tries. The  Germans  as  a  whole  want  no  more  drastic 
political  reforms  than  those  I  discussed  in  the  last  chap- 
ter. 

Even  the  extremely  broad-minded  and  able  Profes- 
sor Delbriick,  whose  independent  tendencies  led  to  his 
resignation  as  Minister  of  the  Interior  in  1916,  wrote 
in  the  Preussische  Jahrbiicher  a  year  later: 

"The  belief  that  the  great  democracies  of  the  West 
are  real  and  genuine  democracies  is  still  cherished  by 
many  people,  but  those  who  see  deeper  have  long  recog- 
nised that  that  is  an  error.  These  so-called  democracies 
are  in  reality  governed  by  groups  of  professional  politi- 
cians, capitalists,  newspaper  proprietors,  and  journal- 
ists. The  influence  of  the  people  is  very  small,  and  if 
we  in  Germany  also  went  over  to  the  system  of  Parlia- 


140  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

mentarisms,  we  should  not  increase  but  diminish  the 
influence  which  the  people  has  hitherto  exerted  upon 
the  Government. 

"Just  as  we  shall  remove  the  article  in  the  Consti- 
tution which  blocks  the  way  to  the  Ministry  to  Parlia- 
mentarism as  such,  the  English  will  remove  the  rule 
that  every  Minister  must  have  a  seat  in  Parliament. 
The  English  Government  already  has  five  or  six  mem- 
bers who  do  not  own  their  rise  to  a  Parliamentary 
career — Geddes,  the  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  Fish- 
er, the  distinguished  historian  and  Minister  of  Educa- 
tion, and  others.  In  a  certain  sense  General  Smuts, 
statesman  and  soldier,  who  has  been  given  an  influential 
advisory  position  in  the  English  War  Cabinet,  belongs 
to  the  same  class.  Thus  in  the  hour  of  need  the 
Mother  Country  of  Parliamentarism  has  summoned  the 
best  men  from  the  free  professions,  and  done  so  be- 
cause tiiey  were  men  who  enjoyed  public  confidence." 

What  would  be  the  result  if  the  masses  of  the  people 
could  show  their  sentiments  at  the  polls? — you  may 
wonder.  After  nearly  four  years  of  war  they  did  so 
at  the  by-election  in  the  Saxon  political  contest  to 
elect  a  member  of  the  Reichstag  to  succeed  a  Socialist 
who  had  died.  The  district  is  mostly  manufacturing 
and  has  been  described  as  "red." 

There  were  two  candidates.  The  first,  of  the  Social- 
ist Majority,  st<x)d  with  his  party  behind  the  war  ma- 
chine and  against  President  Wilson's  distinction  be- 
tween the  German  people  and  the  German  Government. 
His  opponent,  an  Independent  Socialist,  stood  on  a 
platform  which,  since  March,  1916,  has  registered  itself 
consistently  against  militarism  and  is  largely  in  favour 
of  President  Wilson's  distinction.  He  was  snowed  un- 
der by  the  "tame"  Socialist  by  12,400  votes  to  4,800. 


THE  WILSON  WEDGE  141 

In  the  day  by  day  conception  of  the  war  we  are 
actually  fighting  practically  every  German  in  Germany 
— and  a  few  million  even  more  dangerous  Germans  out- 
side their  country's  present  military  frontiers.  But  in 
the  broader  conception,  which  a  constructive  statesman 
should  correctly  take,  we  are  fighting  the  German  peo- 
ple only  until  they  realise  that  we  have  the  power  to 
back  up  our  determination  to  tolerate  no  further  their 
anachronistic,  bureaucratised  feudalism,  which  is  a 
menace  simply  because  they  in  their  efficient  tens  of 
millions  support  it. 

The  Wilsonian  policy  of  making  a  distinction  is, 
therefore,  in  its  deeper  aspects,  entirely  correct. 

There  is  nothing  the  matter  with  the  Wilson  wedge. 
But  just  as  the  wedge  of  iron  will  not  split  wood  with- 
out the  blows  of  a  hammer,  so  will  the  wedge  of  diplo- 
macy not  rend  the  German  people  from  their  rulers 
unless  driven  by  the  smashes  of  blockade,  armies,  guns 
and  shells. 

That  President  W^ilson  understands  this  clearly  is 
evidenced  by  his  Baltimore  speech  of  "force  to  the 
utmost"  That  he  realises  also  that  even  the  extreme 
case  may  arise  that  the  wedge  may  not  entirely  succeed 
and  the  wood  have  to  be  reduced  to  pulp  is  the  senti- 
ment expressed  at  the  tomb  of  Washington  on  July 
4,  1918,  when  he  demanded  "the  destruction  of  every 
arbitrary  power  anywhere  that  can  separately  and  se- 
cretly and  of  its  single  choice  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
world;  or  if  it  cannot  be  presently  destroyed,  its  vir- 
tual reduction  to  impotence." 

I  have  seen  German  soldiers  visibly  tremble  at  the 
knees  and  look  terrified  in  the  presence  of  officers  and 
officials  whom  they  fear.     One  wonders  at  such  times 


142   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

that  they  have  backbone  enough  to  enable  them  to  keep 
their  bodies  rigid.  Yet  these  same  soldiers,  when  or- 
dered by  their  officers  and  officials,  will  storm  against 
Allied  entrenched  positions  and  fight  like  demons. 
There  is  a  deep  moral  in  this  for  the  student  of 
philosophy  and  of  the  war. 

The  German  people  will  not  revolt  until  they  are 
made  to  feel  that  there  is  a  greater  force  outside  in  the 
world  than  that  force  of  which  they  form  a  part  and 
which  they  have  been  taught  since  childhood  is  irre- 
sistible. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    SECRET    OF    GERMAIT    EESISTANCB 

Isn't  it  wonderful  how  the  Germans  continue  to 
hold  out!"  is  a  remark  I  hear  frequently  in  the 
Allied  countries.  Sometimes  it  is  said  cynically  of  one's 
own  efforts,  and  sometimes  with  pure  admiration. 

There  is  little  wonderful  about  it.  A  consideration 
of  the  facts  of  the  case  in  proper  perspective  show  that 
most  of  the  miracles  enabling  Germany  to  hold  out  have 
been  performed  by  the  Allies. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  there  were  two  great  of- 
fensive forces  in  existence — ^forces  counted  upon  to  make 
their  respective  sides  victorious.  One  was  the  German 
Army;  the  other,  the  British  ITavy. 

The  latter  was  not  necessarily  an  offensive  force  in 
the  sense  that  it  would  demolish  the  German  'Nayj  and 
German  ports,  but  in  the  still  greater  sense  that  its 
full  application  in  completely  cutting  Germany  from 
all  overseas  supplies  would,  with  the  blockading  effect 
of  Russia  in  the  East,  inevitably  strangle  Germany  if 
she  could  not  win  in  a  short  war. 

Just  as  the  neutral  countries  of  Belgium  and  Luxem- 
burg restricted — on  paper — the  full  use  of  Germany's 
military  power,  so  did  another  set  of  neutral  countries 
restrict  the  use  of  Britain's  naval  power. 

The  essential,  history-making  fact,  however,  is  that 
Germany  secured  a  tremendous  material  advantage  at 

143 


144  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

the  very  oviset  hy  scrapping  her  agreemerds,  whereas 
Britain  sought  to  adhere  to  hers.  This  is  point  number 
one  for  the  Isn't-it-wonderful^s ! 

In  Germany  polities  became  the  instrument  of  the 
Army,  but  in  England  the  Navy  became  the  instrument 
of  politics.  Great  Britain  jumped  into  the  whirlpool 
of  war  with  a  leaden  weight  around  her  neck.  And 
she  attached  it  herself.  This  weight  was  the  "Declara- 
tion of  London."  Men  concerned  with  international 
politics,  some  naval  officers,  and  the  international  smug- 
glers developed  since  1914,  know  what  is  meant  by  the 
Declaration  of  London.  I  find  that  most  other  people 
do  not. 

Briefly  it  was  this :  Sea  Law  had  always  been  more 
or  less  vague.  Attempts  had  been  made  at  the  Treaty 
of  Paris  in  1856  and  at  the  Hague  Conferences  of  1899 
and  1907  to  clear  it  up,  but  with  little  result.  In  order 
to  arrive  at  an  agreement,  the  British  Government  in- 
yited  representatives  of  the  United  States,  France,  Rus- 
sia, Italy,  Japan,  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  the 
Netherlands  and  Spain  to  meet  her  representatives  in 
conference  in  London.  The  result  was  the  Declaration 
of  London  in  1909  which  dealt  precisely  with  blockade, 
contraband,  unneutral  service,  destruction  of  neutral 
prizes,  transfer  to  neutral  flag,  enemy  character,  neutral 
goods  in  vessels,  convoy,  resistance  to  search,  and  com- 
pensation. 

One  need  but  examine  the  various  provisions,  par- 
ticularly those  relating  to  contraband,  to  become  thor- 
oughly convinced  that  Great  Britain's  representatives 
were  totally  unable  to  foresee  war  with  Germany.  They 
signed  the  declaration,  following  which  it  passed  the 
House  of  Commons.     The  House  of  Lords,  more  dis- 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    14S 

cerning,  voted  against  it.  Therefore  it  was  not  ratified, 
and  consequently  not  legally  binding  on  Great  Britain. 

Since  the  war  began,  some  zealous  English  opponents 
of  the  statesmen  of  their  Liberal  party — the  party  which 
dominated  British  affairs  from  1906  to  1915,  and  which 
has  had  a  considerable  share  in  them  since — ^have  stig- 
matised the  1909  pact  as  the  "Sea  Law  Made  in  Ger- 
many," which  might  lead  to  the  inference  that  the 
British  representatives  at  the  Conference  deliberately 
tried  to  aid  Germany  at  the  expense  of  their  own  coun- 
try. It  is  unfair  to  say  that  this  was  their  intention, 
although  as  events  have  since  transpired,  it  certainly 
has  been  their  accomplishment. 

When  inside  the  German  Empire,  I  saw  that  country 
sink  dangerously  low  economically,  some  of  the  provi- 
sions of  the  Declaration  used  to  flare  before  my  vision 
in  letters  of  electricity. 

Take  contraband  for  example.  Three  kinds  were 
specified,  absolute,  conditional,  and  non-contraband. 

I     Absolute  Contraband: 

1.  Arms  of  all  kinds,  including  arms  for  sporting 
purposes,  and  their  distinctive  component  parts. 

2.  Projectiles,  charges,  and  cartridges  of  all  kinds, 
and  their  distinctive  component  parts. 

3.  Powder  and  explosives  specially  prepared  for 
use  in  war. 

4.  Gun-mountings,  limber  boxes,  limbers,  military 
waggons,  field  forges,  and  their  distinctive  component 
parts. 

5.  Clothing  and  equipment  of  a  distinctively  mili- 
tary character. 

6.  All  kinds  of  harness  of  a  distinctively  military 
character. 


146  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

7.  Saddle,  draught,  and  pack  animals  suitable  for 
use  in  war. 

8.  Articles  of  camp  equipment,  and  their  distinc- 
tive component  parts. 

9.  Armour  plates. 

10.  Warships,  including  boats,  and  their  distinctive 
component  parts  of  such  a  nature  that  they  can  only 
be  used  on  a  vessel  of  war. 

11.  Implements  and  apparatus  designed  exclusively 
for  the  manufacture  of  mimitions  of  war,  for  the  manu- 
facture or  repair  of  arms,  or  war  material  for  use  on 
land  or  sea. 

II  Conditional  contraband.  This  includes  articles 
which  may  or  may  not  be  used  for  purposes  of  war. 
They  may,  vdthout  notice,  be  treated  as  contraband  of 
war,  under  the  name  of  conditional  contraband,  and 
include : 

1.  Foodstuffs. 

2.  Forage  and  grain,  suitable  for  feeding  animals. 

3.  Clothing,  fabrics  for  clothing,  and  boots  and 
shoes,  suitable  for  use  in  war. 

4.  Gold  and  silver  in  coin  or  bullion ;  paper  money. 

5.  Vehicles  of  all  kinds  available  for  use  in  war, 
and  their  component  parts. 

6.  Vessels,  craft,  and  boats  of  aU  kinds  j  floating 
docks,  parts  of  docks  and  their  component  parts. 

T.  Eailway  material,  both  fixed  and  rolling-stock, 
and  material  for  telegraphs,  wireless  telegraphs,  and 
telephones. 

8.  Balloons  and  flying  machines  and  their  distinc- 
tive component  parts,  together  with  accessories  and  ar- 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    147 

tides  recognisable  as  intended  for  use  in  connection 
with  balloons  and  flying  machines. 

9.  Fuel;  lubricants. 

10.  Powder  and  explosives  not  specially  prepared 
for  use  in  war. 

11.  Barbed  wire  and  implements  for  fixing  and  cut- 
ting the  same. 

12.  Horseshoes  and  shoeing  materials. 

13.  Harness  and  saddlery. 

14.  Field-glasses,  telescopes,  chronometers,  and  all 
kinds  of  nautical  instruments. 

It  is  the  non-contraband  list  which  is  the  miracle. 
The  Declaration  reads: 

III  Nonrcontrdband.  Goods  not  susceptible  of  use 
in  war  may  not  he  declared  contraband  of  war.  The 
following  may  not  be  declared  contraband: 

1.  Raw  cotton,  wool,  silk,  jute,  flax,  hemp,  and 
other  raw  materials  of  the  textile  industries,  and  yams 
of  the  same. 

2.  Oil  seeds  and  nuts;  copra. 

3.  Rubber,  resins,  gums,  and  lacs;  hops. 

4.  Raw  hides  and  horns,  bones,  and  ivory. 

5.  ^Natural  and  artificial  manures,  including  ni- 
trates and  phosphates  for  agricultural  purposes. 

6.  Metallic  ores. 

7.  Earths,  clays,  lime,  chalk,  stones,  including  mar- 
ble, bricks,  slates,  and  tiles. 

8.  Chinaware  and  glass. 

9.  Paper  and  paper-making  materials. 

10.  Soap,  paint  and  colours,  including  articles  ex- 
clusively used  in  their  manufacture,  and  varnish. 


148  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

11.  Bleacliiiig-powder,  soda  ash,  caustic  soda,  salt 
cake,  ammonia,  and  sulphate  of  copper. 

12.  Agricultural,  mining,  textile,  and  printing  ma- 
chinery. 

13.  Precious  and  semi-precious  stones,  pearls,  moth- 
er-of-pearl, and  coral. 

14.  Clocks  and  watches,  other  than  chronometers. 

15.  Fashion  and  fancy  goods. 

16.  Feathers  of  all  kinds,  hairs  and  bristles. 

17.  Articles  of  household  furniture  and  decora- 
tion ;  office  furniture  and  requisites. 

Consider  this  list  in  the  light  of  the  facts  of  the  war. 

Cotton  is  used  for  propulsive  ammunition,  for  army 
clothing  and  for  automatic  tires.  Silk  is  used  in  mak- 
ing observation  balloons,  and  flax  in  the  wings  of  aero- 
planes, yet  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  solemnly 
agreed  that  these  articles  were  not  susceptible  of  use  in 
war.  I  emphasise  Great  Britain  in  the  Declaration 
because  of  her  rank  as  first  sea  power. 

With  respect  to  paragraph  2,  I  have  seen  notices  in 
Germany  exhorting  the  people  to  grow  and  gather  such 
oil  seeds  as  sun  flower,  poppy,  linseed,  nuts  and  cherry 
stones.  I  saw  German  agents  pour  into  Holland  with 
the  result  that  the  Dutch  multiplied  their  importation 
of  linseed  by  10,000  per  cent.  Soaring  also  went  their 
importation  of  copra. 

Why  should  the  average  American  show  any  interest 
in  the  bald  statement  that  Holland  had  greatly  in- 
creased her  importation  of  copra? — As  a  rule,  he 
doesn't.  He  is  likely  to,  however,  when  he  learns  that 
oopra  is  the  dry  pulp  of  cocoanutj  that  it  is  two-thirds 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    149 

oilj  and  that  like  the  other  oleaginous  materials  just 
mentioned,  it  is  vital  to  German  power  to  make  war. 

This  is  a  war  of  machinery  in  its  practical  opera- 
tions, and  the  oils  extracted  from  such  materials  are 
not  only  used  for  lubricating  purposes,  but  are  essen- 
tials in  the  manufacture  of  explosives.  Consequently, 
Germany's  long-continued  success  in  importing  oil-mak- 
ing products  under  the  nose  of  the  politically-shackled 
British  fleet,  directly  results  in  additional  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  Britain's  soldiery  and  America's  soldiery  sleep- 
ing in  France  and  Flanders  instead  of  returning  to 
their  homes. 

Herr  Batocki,  as  German  Food  Controller,  testified 
to  the  Reichstag  on  May  10,  1917,  when  referring  to 
imports:  "In  the  main  we  depend  largely  upon  im- 
ports for  our  supplies  of  oils  and  fats.  Our  divinely- 
wise  policy,  however,  has  enabled  us  to  accumulate 
enough  to  permit  us  to  face  the  future  with  hope." 

Superior  transport  has  contributed  largely  to  German 
military  successes.  Rubber  plays  a  highly  important 
role  in  modern  transport.  Further  comment  on  that 
item  in  paragraph  3  would  be  superfluous. 

In  paragraph  5  we  find  artificial  manures,  includ- 
ing nitrates,  for  agricultural  purposes.  The  bumper 
crops  from  Germany's  scientifically  intensive  agricul- 
ture were  due  largely  to  the  use  of  these.  Further- 
more, nitric  acid  is  derived  from  nitrates,  and  prop- 
erly combined  with  toluol  makes  TNT,  one  of  the  most 
terrible  of  high  explosives. 

In  paragraph  6  we  find  the  British  Government  agree- 
ing with  Germany  that  metallic  ores  are  not  suscepti- 
ble of  use  in  war.  How  about  those  used  in  steel-harden- 
ing to  make  the  tool  steel  necessary  for  the  manufacture 


150   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

of  munitions — hardeners  such  as  tungsten,  chromium^ 
vanadium,  and  manganese? 

In  paragraph  9  we  learn  that  paper-making  materials 
are  not  to  be  considered  as  contraband  of  war.  Wood 
pulp  is  the  prime  paper-making  material.  It  happens 
also  to  be  Germany's  present  munition-substitute  for 
cotton,  the  cellulose  derived  from  it  forming  the  base 
of  the  charge  that  hurls  German  death-dealing  projec- 
tiles across  IsTo-Man's  Land.  It  would  not  be  fair,  how- 
ever, to  blame  the  British  Government  of  1909  for  not 
foreseeing  this,  inasmuch  as  their  best  chemists  were 
unorganised  for  peace  j  whereas  those  of  Germany  were 
organised  for  war. 

Some  of  the  chemicals  in  paragraph  11  are  also  of 
great  value  in  the  manufacture  of  explosives.  Five 
pounds  of  fat  treated  with  soda  can  be  made  to  yield 
one  pound  of  glycerine,  which,  like  the  glycerine  de- 
rived from  the  seeds  mentioned  above,  can  be  nitrated  to 
yield  twice  the  amount  of  nitroglycerine. 

So  much  for  the  contraband,  conditional-contraband 
and  non-contraband  classifications  of  the  Declaration 
of  London.    Regarding  seizure  the  Declaration  says ; 

"Absolute  contraband  is  liable  to  capture  if  it  ia 
shown  to  be  destined  to  territory  belonging  to  or  oo- 
cupied  by  the  enemy,  or  to  the  armed  forces  of  the 
enemy.  It  is  immaterial  whether  the  carriage  of  the 
goods  is  direct  or  entails  transshipment  or  a  subsequent 
transport  by  land. 

^'Where  a  vessel  is  carrying  absolute  contraband, 
her  papers  are  conclusive  proof  as  to  the  voyage  on  which 
she  is  engaged,  unless  she  is  found  clearly  out  of  the 
course  indicated  by  her  papers  and  unable  to  give  ade- 
quate reasons  to  justify  such  deviation." 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    151 

Froin  this  second  paragraph  it  is  clear  that  even 
though  Great  Britain  enlarged  her  contraband  list  from 
the  conditional  contraband  list,  as  she  had  a  legal  right 
to  do,  contraband  could  reach  Germany  from  America 
hy  Holland  or  Scandinavia  if  the  ship's  papers  and  the 
list  of  cargo  consignees  tended  to  show  that  the  goods 
are  destined  for  neutrals  and  not  for  the  enemy.  The 
burden  of  proof  rested  with  the  British. 

"Conditional  contraband  is  not  liable  to  capture,  ex- 
cept when  found  on  board  a  vessel  bound  for  territory 
belonging  to  or  occupied  by  the  enemy,  or  for  the  armed 
forces  of  the  enemy,  and  when  it  is  not  to  be  discharged 
in  an  intervening  neutral  port." 

ISTote  the  qualifying  clause  when  it  is  not  to  be  dis- 
charged in  an  intervening  neutral  port.  Thus  though 
conditional  contraband  could  not  be  sent  to  the  manu- 
facturing districts  of  the  Rhine  region  via  Bremen  and 
Hamburg,  it  was  quite  all  right  to  send  it  there  via 
Amsterdam  and  Rotterdam.  This  was  not  a  serious  in- 
convenience to  Germany,  inasmuch  as  the  rail  haul  from 
Hamburg  to  Cologne  is  279  miles,  and  from  Bremei^ 
haven  to  Cologne  317  miles;  whereas  the  distances 
from  Rotterdam  and  Amsterdam  respectively  to  Cologne 
are  only  165  and  109  miles. 

Thus,  "Clear  for  a  neutral  port!"  became  a  mari- 
time motto  to  such  an  extent  that  even  Iceland  proved 
useful  in  a  war  which,  until  America's  entry,  was  at 
times  waged  largely  on  the  quibblings  of  technical 
niceties. 

These,  then,  are  some  of  the  essential  provisions  of 
a  document  which  has  been  of  infinitely  more  value  to 
Germany  than  her  high-seas  fleet,  and  it  cost  only  the 


152   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

travelling  and  living  expenses  of  the  few  delegates  sent 
to  the  convention. 

The  British  Foreign  Office  early  in  the  war  got  into 
international  difficulties  by  treating  the  Declaration 
of  London  as  though  it  were  ratified  and  binding — ^by 
accepting  it  practically  en  hloc  and  then  nibbling  into 
it  in  a  way  that  soon  caused  friction  with  the  various 
neutrals,  chief  of  whom  was  the  United  States. 

Washington's  first  sharp  note  of  the  war  was  to  Great 
Britain  and  not  to  Germany  when  Secretary  Bryan  pro- 
tested against  British  interference  with  neutral  trade. 

From  the  outbreak  of  war  until  March,  1915,  all 
kinds  of  supplies  poured  into  Germany  like  the  tide 
in  the  flood — despite  the  holding  up  of  shipping  by  the 
British  Navy.  The  British  Order  in  Council  of  March 
of  that  year,  however,  reduced  the  deluge  to  rivers  which 
in  return  were  reduced  to  brooks  in  the  third  year  of 
the  war.  ISTot  until  we  had  entered  the  struggle  and 
placed  an  embargo  on  this  side  of  the  ocean  on  goods 
sent  to  Germany  through  contiguous  neutral  eountries 
did  the  brooks  dry  up  at  the  source. 

Yet,  from  the  beginning,  the  overwhelming  majority 
of  the  people  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States 
thoroughly  believed  that  Germany  was  being  blockaded. 
They  looked  upon  her  as  a  great  storehouse  that  could 
not  be  replenished  from  outside  and  was  eating  itself 
up.  If  the  German  Armies  did  not  win  before  the  store- 
house was  depleted,  Germany  must  collapsa 

Yet  in  the  second  year  of  the  war  such  advertisements 
as  the  following  were  appearing  in  pro-German  publica- 
tions in  the  United  States.  Those  opposite  are  repro- 
duced from  the  October  13,  1915,  issue  of  George  Syl- 
vester Viereck's  Weekly,  The  Fatherland,  which  in  the 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    153 

same  issue  boasted:  "Inasmucli  as  fully  ninety  per 
cent  of  the  American  people  are  hyphenated.  The  Fa- 
therland is  quite  willing  to  be  the  spokesman  for  so 
impressive  a  majority." 


The  Fatherland  Needs  Coffee 

?^flve  you  forsotten  your  friends  and  relatives  in  the  old  country  ?  Coffee  is  not  produced  in  Germany 
and  consequently  has  become  exceedingly  scarce.  These  conditions  have  caused  the  price  to  raise  far 
above  the  means  of  the  majority  of  people  and  is  causing  untold  discomfort  to  thousands  of  people  who 
depend  upon  this  beverage  for  daily  use.  Here  is  an  opportunity  to  show  that  you  have  not  forgotten 
them.    Send  them  five  pounds  of  our  Al  quality  coffee. 

WF  SHFP  ^^^'^  **^  ^^y  p^xX  of  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary — S  pounds  of  the  best  at  $1^5.  in- 
'  * '^  utlil    eluding  all  postage  and  packing  charges.  Ifdeliverydoes.nottakeplacctwe  rcfundmoney. 

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*'*'  "^  I  ni^l  I  /ll  L«  full  ad<lress  of  the  person  to  whom  you  wish  us  to  make  the  shipment. 
If  you  wast  to  add  a  postal  card  telling  who  the  ^t,i3  from*  please  enclose  U  with  your  order. 

HAMBURG-AMERICAN  COFFEE  CO. 

W.,  Package  Dept  {  '^76  W AS^ffiT^  }  NEW  YORK  CITY 

0^fE  BLOCK  EAST  OF  HANOVER  SQUARE  "I."  STATION 


There  were  two  reasons  for  the  popular  belief  that 
Germany  was  being  blockaded: 

1.  The  natural  supposition  that  Great  Britain  would 


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use  her  sea  power  to  the  utmost.    The  truth  is  she  had 
the  name  without  the  game. 

2.  The  sepulchral  stillness  in  Germany  and  among 
neutrals  concerning  the  stuff  that  went  throu^  the 


354  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

l)lockade;*  and  the  howl  put  up  when  anything  was 
stopped.  Indeed,  I  soon  learned  that  Britain's  inter- 
ference and  fancied  interference  with  the  trading  rights 
of  neutrals  was  Germany's  chief  propaganda  card — a 
card  of  dissension  played  with  telling  effect  in  the 
United  States. 

Thus,  while  the  German  Government  was  scrapping 
two  Hague  conventions  and  two  neutrality  agreements, 
which  it  had  ratified,  it  insisted  to  the  world  that  Great 
Britain  should  adhere  to  the  Declaration  of  London, 
which  it  had  not  ratified. 

Happily,  Germany's  ruthless  submarine  declaration 
of  February,  1915,  made  the  British  Foreign  Office  feel 
that  we  might  condone  a  further  tightening  of  the 
strings.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  though  we  protested  from 
time  to  time,  we  could  not  be  over-insistent  and  drastic 
owing  to  Germany's  peculiar  custom  of  perpetrating 
some  fresh  sea  atrocity  whenever  Anglo-American  rela- 
tions threatened  to  become  acute.  Even  some  well- 
informed  Germans  who  deplored  the  sinking  of  the 
Lusitania  on  practical  grounds,  admitted  this  point  to 
me. 

Through  1915  Great  Britain  developed  a  policy  with 
Scandinavia  and  Holland  which  reduced  their  re-ex- 
ports into  Germany.  Germany  unconsciously  aided  her 
in  this  by  flamboyantly  holding  dye-stuffs  over  the  heads 
of  her  neutral  neighbours  for  bargaining  purposes.  She 
furthermore  informed  them  that  if  they  allowed  any 
of  these  products  of  her  monopolised  industry  of  which 
she  was  so  proud  to  be  re-exported  they  would  be  strafed. 
Acting  on  this  cue.  Great  Britain  told  Sweden,  for  ex- 

*I  use  "blockade"  in  the  broad  eeilse,  not  the  strictly  legal 
sense. 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    155 

ample,  that  if  she  permitted  products  which  she  im^- 
ported  from  the  British  Empire  to  reach  Germany,  she 
would  get  no  more  of  these.  Britain  then  began  to 
swell  her  contraband  list  and  began  more  strictly  to  en- 
force her  Order  in  Council  of  March  11,  1915,  which 
declared  that  no  commodities  of  any  kind  would  be  al- 
lowed to  reach  Germany.  Thus,  under  pressure,  from 
both  sets  of  belligerents,  the  Swedish  Government  com- 
piled a  list  of  things  which  might  not  be  re-exported. 

At  the  end  of  the  first  year  of  war,  this  embargo  list 
had  grown  to  nine  pages  of  fine  print.  Thence  began, 
unobserved  by  the  world  in  general,  the  dramatic  and 
vital  struggle  on  the  great  silent  battlefields  of  the  ISTeu- 
tral  North.  ' 

The  gorgeous,  world-renowned  Grand  Hotel  in  Stock- 
holm was  to  all  appearances  turned  into  a  stock-exchange 
over  night.  I  saw  knots  of  men  put  their  heads  to- 
gether in  the  lobby  to  discuss  any  kind  of  a  business 
transaction  from  the  collecting  of  junk  to  the  pur- 
chase of  an  oil  ship.  Other  groups  sat  in  whispered  dis- 
cussions behind  locked  doors,  messenger  boys  darted 
through  the  corridors,  while  telephones  tingled  inces- 
santly in  the  rooms  throughout  the  great  hotel.  The 
atmosphere  was  that  of  Wall  Street  or  of  the  "Wheat 
Pit  of  Chicago. 

The  Continental  produced  a  similar  scene,  as  did  the 
other  hotels  to  a  lesser  degree.  Hordes  of  Germans, 
trying  to  buy  and  get  their  goods  home  to  their  respeo- 
tive  country,  Englishmen  seeking  to  forestall  the  one 
and  aid  the  other,  while  a  sprinkling  of  neutrals  gar- 
nered all  the  way  from  San  Francisco  to  Teheran,  were 
taking  a  hand  in  the  biggest  game  that  Stockholm  ever 
knew. 


156  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Germany  played  her  cards  with  characteristic  thor- 
oughness. As  we  have  seen,  her  system  of  government 
enables  her  heads  of  departments  speedily  to  enlist  the 
services  of  experts  in  any  new  line.  Thus  her  machin- 
ery for  beating  the  blockade  developed  with  the  block- 
ade. She  didn't  pick  out  men  for  drawing-room  con- 
nections but  because  they  could  get  results;  and  the 
shrewd  buyers  and  traders  that  she  sent  into  Sweden 
and  other  neutral  countries  had  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment at  their  backs  to  enable  them  to  go  the  limit.  In 
Scandinavia,  Switzerland,  Holland,  and  Roumania,  I 
was  impressed  with  the  great  proportion  of  shrewd  and 
able  Jewish  business  men  among  her  agents.  The  block- 
ade was  not  a  side-show  with  them  and  the  Government 
department  in  which  they  worked.  It  was  their  highly 
developed  scientific  specialty. 

In  the  game  of  beating  the  embargo  buying  soon 
became  a  comparatively  simple  matter  compared  with 
the  delivery  of  goods.  Once  a  Scandinavian  country 
placed  a  conmaodity  on  the  embargo  list,  it  could  only 
be  smuggled  out  to  Germany  by  crooked  means.  That 
such  means  existed  in  plenitude  I  learned  first-hand  in 
my  associations  with  smugglers.  I  soon  saw  that  one 
of  the  commodities  most  desired  by  Germany  was  cot- 
ton, which  Sweden  did  not  feel  constrained  to  place  on 
her  embargo  list  until  June  6,  1915.  The  British 
Government  had  not  yet  declared  cotton  contraband,  al- 
though a  portion  of  the  Press  was  incessantly  hammer- 
ing  it  on  the  subject. 

While  Parliament  debated  the  question,  and  the  Cabi- 
net considered  it,  I  saw  the  German  ring  of  cotton  buy- 
ers in  Stockholm  quadruple  their  efforts.  On  one  oc- 
casion, after  a  pleasant  chat  on  the  Grand  Hotel  ve- 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    157 

randa  with  a  neutral  diplomat  and  a  well-known  Ameri- 
can cotton  king  who  was  just  then  making  a  tour  of 
Europe  to  inspect  his  cotton  interests,  I  stepped  inside 
and  was  accosted  by  three  Jews  who  were  fighting  Ger- 
many's trade  battles  on  the  Swedish  front.  I  had  al- 
ready talked  with  these  men  several  times,  and  if  I  had 
entertained  any  doubts  of  the  nature  of  their  activities 
these  doubts  were  now  dispelled. 

"Who  was  the  strange  gentleman  to  whom  you  were 
talking  just  now  on  the  veranda  ?"  asked  one  of  them. 

"He  is  one  of  the  greatest  cotton  men  in  America," 
I  returned  with  warmth. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  devouringly  eager  manner  of 
the  three  men  at  my  simple  announcement.  They  came 
at  me  with  outstretched  arms.  "Introduce  us !"  "In- 
troduce us !"  they  jleaded  in  unison. 

It  is  significant  that  this  was  in  late  July,  nearly  two 
months  after  cotton  could  not  be  taken  out  of  the  coun- 
try— ^that  is,  according  to  Swedish  regulations. 

But  such  trifles  as  regulations  did  not  discourage  my 
three  acquaintances-  After  they  bought  a  load  of  cot- 
ton at  Gothenburg,  on  the  west  coast  of  Sweden,  they 
decided  to  take  it  to  Stockholm  on  the  east  coast.  They 
could  do  this  inasmuch  as  there  was  nothing  against 
transferring  it  in  the  country.  They  preferred  the 
long  route  by  boat  rather  than  the  short  route  by  rail 
— a  preference  which  under  existing  war-conditions  was 
not  to  save  transportation  rates.  A  code  message  to 
Berlin,  a  German  destroyer  at  the  right  place  in  the 
Baltic,  and  the  embargo  was  beaten.  The  Germans  took 
the  cotton,  released  the  boat,  and  the  trio  started  the 
trick  all  over  again. 

I  found  two  gangs  working  together  in  a  decidedly 


158  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

clever  sclieine  in  Copenhagen  and  Stockholm.  They 
specialised  in  many  commodities,  but  particularly  in 
rubber.  A  German-controlled  firm  in  Denmark  would 
receive  a  consignment  of  rubber  from  New  York.  It 
had  stipulated  with  the  Danish  Government  that  it 
would  not  re-export  this  rubber  to  Germany,  the  Dan- 
ish Government  having  already  in  an  agreement  with 
Great  Britain  placed  rubber  upon  the  embargo  list. 
Permission  could  be  obtained,  however,  by  the  firm  in 
Denmark  to  ship  this  rubber  to  its  branch  firm  in  Stock- 
holm. When  it  arrived  in  Stockholm,  it  would  be  re- 
boxed  and  labelled  and  sent  to  Germany,  passing 
through  Denmark.  It  could  be  sent  from  Sweden  inas- 
much as  it  had  not  come  to  that  country  from  over  the 
seas,  and  was  merely  passing  through  that  country  in 
transit  bond. 

From  the  outset  of  the  war,  Germany  sought  to  pur- 
chase every  ounce  of  copper  in  Sweden,  as  elsewhere, 
and  numbers  of  Swedes  naturally  accepted  the  high 
prices  offered,  some  manufacturers,  indeed,  running 
temporarily  short  themselves.  The  director  of  one  of 
the  largest  paper  mills  told  me  that  he  was  continually 
pestered  by  German  agents  trying  to  buy  all  kinds  of 
scrap  metal,  especially  copper.  He  added  that  they 
did  not  stop  with  the  owners,  but  offered  the  workmen 
alluring  prices  for  any  bits  of  metal  that  they  could 
smuggle  out  of  the  factories.  He  said  that  the  practice 
went  so  far  that  most  managers  had  to  employ  squads 
of  watchmen  in  order  to  retain  possession  of  lighting 
and  other  appurtenances. 

One  German  attempt  at  smuggling  shows  that  some- 
body somewhere  had  a  deep  sense  of  humour.  During 
the  great  offensive  against  the  Russians,  Hindenburg's 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    159 

popularity  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  Germany 
ordered  several  hundred  thousand  busts  of  him  in 
Sweden  for  early  delivery.  The  busts,  she  specified,  were 
to  be  of  copper.  When  Britain's  watch  dogs  in  Sweden 
heard  of  this,  they  showed  their  teeth.  They  did  not 
object  to  Germany  honouring  her  great  idol  by  placing  a 
statuette  of  him  in  every  home  in  the  Eatherland,  but 
they  did  insist  that  if  the  statuettes  were  to  come  from 
Sweden  they  would  have  to  be  of  wood,  papier-mache, 
or  some  other  innocuous  substance. 

Though  this  attempt  was  nipped  the  Germans  suc- 
ceeded in  importing  quantities  of  "onions"  made  of 
rubber  and  Dutch  "herrings"  moulded  from  butter  and 
deceptively  coated. 

Later,  when  I  was  again  in  the  Fatherland,  there 
came  a  time  when  shaving  became  torture  owing  to  the 
lack  of  proper  made-in-Germany  soap  due  to  fat  short- 
age, and  the  failure  to  get  any  from  America, — ^where 
by  consensus  of  European  opinion  the  best  in  the  world 
is  made.  Such  failure  was  due  to  the  embargo  which 
European  neutrals,  under  British  pressure,  put  on  soap. 
After  many  uncomfortable  months,  my  friends  and  I 
suddenly  discovered  that  we  could  once  more  get  the 
real  article  from  America  in  various  German  cities.  On 
opening  the  boxes,  however,  we  found  all  the  instruc- 
tions printed  in  !N^orwegian,  Swedish  and  Danish. 
Somebody  in  the  north  had  beaten  the  embargo  with  a 
shipload  of  soap. 

Whereas  the  governments  of  the  Scandinavian  coun- 
tries dealt  with  Great  Britain  directly  in  the  compila- 
tion of  their  embargo  lists,  quite  a  different  system 
pertained  in  Holland.  A  commission  known  as  the 
.E'etherlands   Oversea    Trust   was   established    at   the 


i6o  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Hague  in  the  autumn  of  1914  to  act  as  intermediary 
between  Dutch  merchants  and  traders  and  the  Entente 
Powers.  Their  proposition,  reduced  to  simplest  terms, 
was  that  the  Allies  should  permit  goods  to  enter  Hol- 
land under  the  sanction  of  the  X.  O.  T.  which  in  turn 
should  be  responsible  for  them  not  going  into  Germany. 

The  organisation  is  managed  by  a  board  of  directors, 
appointed  and  dismissed  by  the  shareholders,  the  latter 
consisting  of  the  most  powerful  business  concerns  in 
Holland,  as  the  Holland-American  line,  the  Amster- 
dam Bank  and  the  !Ni  etherlands  Lloyd.  The  method  of 
operation  was  simple  and  theoretically  prevented  the 
re-exportation  to  Germany  of  goods  brought  into  the 
country  through  the  medium  of  the  N.  O.  T.  Most  of 
the  imports  were  brought  through  it  anyhow,  since  the 
Government  concerned  itself  only  with  such  absolute 
contraband  as  arms,  ammunition,  and  the  like. 

If  a  Dutch  merchant  desired  to  import  a  certain  com- 
modity, he  filled  in  a  form  issued  by  the  Oversea  Trust, 
the  ofiicials  of  which  were  then  supposed  to  ascertain 
whether  he  was  a  bona  fide  Dutch  merchant  or  a  link 
in  the  German  chain.  Permission  granted,  he  had  to 
furnish  the  Trust  with  a  bank  guarantee  to  the  amount 
of  go«ds  ordered,  this  being  a  forfeit  or  a  part-forfeit, 
should  the  goods  be  re-exported. 

The  deposit,  however,  proved  far  from  an  absolute 
guarantee  of  good  behaviour.  Some  dealers  in  oil,  for 
example,  imported  a  vast  amount  and  then  reshipped 
it  all  to  Germany.  Inasmuch  as  Germany  needs  lubri- 
cants to  win  the  war,  and  her  leaders  are  determined  to 
let  nothing  stand  in  the  way  of  victory,  she  paid  a  price 
sufficient  to  allow  the  Dutch  dealers  to  sacrifice  their 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    i6i! 

entire  deposit  to  the  Oversea  Trust  and  still  dear  a 
handsome  profit. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  Overseas  Trust  had 
no  official  connection  with  the  Dutch  Government.  This 
proved  a  grievous  weakness  from  the  Allied  point  of 
view  inasmuch  as  the  Netherlands  government  officials 
on  the  frontier  had  no  power  to  hold  up  goods  with  the 
!N^.  O.  T.  label.  The  K.  O.  T.'s  only  recourse  was  to 
find  the  original  exporter,  if  it  had  proof  that  goods  left 
the  country  J  and  refuse  him  any  further  permission  to 
import.  The  German  agents  met  this  little  difficulty  by 
simply  growing  more  mushroom  importers. 

Holland  developed  an  export  as  well  as  a  re-export 
problem.  Early  in  the  war  the  Dutch  farmers  took 
full  advantage  of  the  phenomenon  that  they  could  get 
three  times  as  much  by  selling  produce  to  the  Germans 
as  to  their  own  countrymen.  These  farmers  were  soon 
driving  in  cheerfully  every  week  to  Rotterdam,  Gouda, 
and  other  centres,  where  they  took  pride  in  displaying 
fat  rolls  of  money  in  the  coffee-houses  before  strolling 
across  the  street  to  pass  them  through  the  window  to  the 
receiving  teller  in  the  bank.  Quite  a  change  from  the 
days  when  the  ancestors  of  the  get-rich-quick  farmers 
began  to  reclaim  the  land  from  the  sea,  a  period  when 
more  people  were  employed  in  manuring  it  than  could 
be  fed  on  what  it  produced. 

The  flow  of  milk,  cheese,  butter,  eggs,  meat,  potatoes 
and  other  vegetables  to  Germany,  caused  the  consumers 
in  the  cities  to  complain  bitterly  that  not  only  weie  the 
prices  of  the  necessities  of  life  nearly  prohibitive,  but 
that  food  could  not  be  obtained  in  sufficient  quantities. 
Forced  to  take  measures,  the  Goveroment  decreed  that 
every  town  should  each  week  take  an  account  of  sup- 


i62   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

plies  on  hand  on  the  basis  of  which  the  percentage  of 
the  country's  produce  which  might  be  exported  might 
be  computed. 

All  over  the  world,  however,  there  are  just  as  clever 
people  trying  to  beat  the  law  as  to  make  the  law,  and 
it  would  be  as  much  beside  the  point  to  argue  that  be- 
cause there  existed  in  Holland  regulations  against  ex- 
ports and  re-exports  that  "banned"  goods  did  not  go 
out  of  the  country  as  to  maintain  that  moon-shine  whis- 
key is  not  distilled  in  the  mountains  of  Kentucky  be- 
cause of  federal  excise  laws. 

As  regards  the  partial  replenishment  of  the  German 
national  storehouse,  I  got  quite  a  different  and  ex- 
tremely more  accurate  idea  out  where  things  were 
doing  than  I  should  have  got  as  one  of  the  British  pub- 
lic reading  the  ofl&cial  assurances  that  the  enemy  was 
being  blockaded.  She  was  on  paper.  On  both  sides 
of  the  Dutch  frontier,  however,  I  was  amazed  at  the 
amount  of  sustenance  that  Germany  was  sucking  from 
Holland. 

In  this  I  witnessed  further  evidence  of  Teuton  thor- 
oughness in  neglecting  no  detail.  Gangs  of  smugglers 
were  all  over  Holland.  One  of  these,  with  its  head- 
quarters at  Roosendaal,  used  to  send  a  stream  of  people, 
even  young  boys,  across  the  line  into  Belgium  in  broad 
daylight.  Women  and  girls  were  particularly  active, 
the  wide  full  skirts  of  the  Dutch  peasant  becoming 
wider  and  fuller  with  contraband  sewed  in  them. 
(  Some  smugglers  were  merely  employes  of  the  Ger- 
man agents,  while  others,  more  enterprising,  were  in 
business  for  themselves.  I  know  of  one  young  fellow 
in  Rotterdam  who  drew  every  cent  that  he  had  in  the 
bank  early  in  1915  and  spent  it  all  for  one  horse.    He 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    163 

then  surreptitiously  led  the  animal  across  the  frontier 
•where  he  received  two  and  one-half  times  what  he  had 
paid  for  it.  He  encored  the  act  repeatedly  and  might 
have  become  wealthy  if  the  authorities  had  not  finally 
stopped  his  activities  by  banishing  him  from  the  fron- 
tier zones.  As  it  was  he  cleared  $32,000  in  less  than  a 
year. 

Many  other  Dutchmen  increased  the  value  of  their 
horses  by  leading  them  in  an  easterly  direction.  An 
animal  worth  400  guilders  (a  guilder  equals  forty  cents) 
on  one  side  of  the  line,  was  worth  1,000  guilders  on 
the  other.  Two  hundred  guilders  appears  a  large  sum 
of  money  to  a  weary,  neutral  frontier-guard  if  he  will 
but  look  in  a  specified  direction  for  a  specified  length 
of  time.  His  country  is  not  at  war,  he  may  consolingly 
reason,  and  what  does  it  matter  if  just  one  more  horse 
is  turned  loose  into  Armageddon. 

In  addition  to  the  "honest"  smuggler  there  has  ex- 
isted the  dealer  who  cheats  his  confiding  German  cus- 
tomer. This  happened  so  often  that  the  German  au- 
thorities warned  their  people  to  beware  of  the  wily 
Dutchman.  Many  German  purchasers  of  kerosene  and 
gasoline  had  the  unpleasant  truth  dawn  upon  them 
later  that  they  paid  exorbitant  prices  for  ordinary 
water  topped  with  oil. 

As  from  Scandinavia  and  Holland,  food  and  supplies 
poured  into  the  central  powers  from  Switzerland,  Rou- 
mania  and  Italy.  Italy,  indeed,  presented  the  most 
difficult  problem.  Inasmuch  as  the  Allies  hoped  that 
she  would  enter  the  war  the  British  blockade  authori- 
ties closed  their  eyes  to  her  imports  and  exports.  Thus 
from  August,  1914,  until  late  May,  1915,  Genoa  was 
a  revictualment  port  for  the  Central  Powers.     Even 


i64   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

after  Italy  came  into  the  war,  there  was  a  considerable 
leakage  via  Switzerland  which  was  only  stopped  with  the 
rebirth  of  the  nation  in  the  autumn  of  1917  when  her 
retreating  armies  successfully  turned  at  bay  on  the 
Piave  River  and  the  rot  in  politics  was  largely  cleared 
away. 

I  was  in  Germany  in  February,  1916,  at  the  time 
Lord  Robert  Cecil  was  appointed  Minister  of  Blockade, 
when  I  found  deeply  significant  the  chagrin  of  many 
well-informed  Germans  that  Great  Britain  had  now, 
seemingly,  determined  to  make  blockade  a  deeper  study 
than  in  the  past.  Some  months  later,  when  the  news 
was  published  in  Germany  that  Britain  had  resolved  to 
cast  off  entirely  the  Declaration  of  London,  I  saw  one 
of  the  greatest  rage-waves  sweep  through  Germany  of 
the  many  that  I  witnessed  during  the  war,  for  the  Ger- 
mans knew  the  importance  of  the  muffled  battle  for  food- 
stuffs and  material.  As  General  Rubisanen,  command- 
ing at  Soltau,  blurted  out  to  three  of  us  Americans, 
whose  country  he  had  just  been  villifying:  "God  in 
heaven,  what  a  terrible  thought !  To  think  that  all  the 
soldiers  of  the  world  could  never  defeat  the  German 
Army,  and  then  to  realise  that  we  are  on  the  verge  of 
overwhelming  defeat  if  our  economic  line  but  sag  a 
little  lower." 

This  was  in  the  summer  of  1916,  when  what  I  saw 
in  Germany  made  me  realise  the  possibilities  of  a 
complete  blockade.  Partially  paralysed  as  it  was,  the 
sea  power  of  Great  Britain  was  literally  reducing  Ger- 
many's hopes  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  were  all  the 
armies  of  the  Allies. 

I  got  out  of  Germany  into  Holland  in  the  autumn  and 
ccmtrived  to  cross  the  If orth  Sea  to  England.    I  found 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    165 

there  a  people  for  the  most  part  focussing  their  eyes 
on  one  great  phase  of  the  war — the  Battle  of  the  Somme. 
They  believed  that  their  Government  had  plugged  up 
all  the  leaks  in  the  blockade.  In  Germany  I  had  seen 
the  leaks,  and  I  was  thoroughly  convinced  that  the 
blockade  could  be  tightened  and  must  be  tightened  if 
the  Central  Powers  were  ever  to  be  defeated. 

Among  other  defects,  I  called  attention  in  the  Lon- 
don Times  to  the  fact  that  Holland  and  Denmark  were 
importing  under  the  nose  of  the  British  fleet  soy  beans 
from  Japan  to  fatten  pigs;  oil  cake  from.  America  to 
fatten  cattle ;  also,  maize  and  other  cereals  from  across 
the  seas  for  the  same  purpose.  Turned  into  meat,  these 
imports  then  passed  into  Germany.  "There  is  one  man 
from  Denmark  whom  we  always  hate  to  see  coming  to 
our  shores,"  said  an  important  British  naval  offieer  to 
me.  "He  always  returns  home  with  new  concessions 
from  our  Foreign  Office — ^which  usually  means  some- 
thing more  for  Germany." 

On  the  15th  of  November,  1916,  Lord  Beresford  said 
in  Parliament:  "Great  Britain  has  arrived  at  a  very 
serious  crisis.  The  Government  seems  to  think  they 
are  going  to  win  the  war  by  some  lucky  chance ;  but  all 
previous  wars  were  won  by  energy,  foresight  and  at- 
tack. The  one  thing  the  Germans  feared  was  our  block- 
ade, and  I  will  quote  an  excellent  article  in  the  Times 
— ^by  Mr.  D.  Thomas  Curtin — ^which  cited  the  following 
words  uttered  by  a  prominent  German. 

"When  the  war  began  we  thought  it  would  be  a  fight 
between  the  German  Army  and  the  British  Navy.  As 
time  went  on  we  found  that  the  English  Government 
drew  the  teeth  of  its  Navy  and  enabled  us  to  get  in 
through  the  then  so-called  blockade  supplies  of  cotton. 


i66  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

copper,  lubricating  oil,  wool" — (here  he  named  some 
twenty  commodities) — "in  a  sufficiency  that  will  last 
us  many  long  months.  How  different  would  have  been 
our  position  to-day  if  the  British  Navy  had  controlled 
the  blockade,  as  we  had  every  reason  to  fear  it  would. 
We  can  and  will  hold  out  for  a  long  time,  thanks  to 
their  blunders." 

This  member  of  the  German  Fordign  Office  further 
told  me  that  he  was  at  a  loss  to  understand  why  Great 
Britain  had  not  exercised  her  sea  power  to  the  utmost. 
Of  course,  as  a  German  official,  it  was  difficult  for  him 
to  understand  a  deference  to  neutrals  which  might 
wreck  one's  cause.  In  justice  to  the  British  Foreign 
Office,  it  is  fair  to  state  that  just  sach  deference  to  the 
United  States  was  responsible  for  the  continued  chain- 
ing of  the  fleet. 

When  we  came  in,  we  created  a  Board  of  Blockade, 
and  began  to  ration  European  neutrals  in  such  a  manner 
that  there  would  be  no  surplus  to  pass  over  their  fron- 
tiers to  the  enemy.  Thus  in  the  summer  of  1917  Ger- 
many was  completely  choked  off  from  the  seas,  and  the 
illusion  which  the  average  American  had  cherished  for 
three  years  had  become  a  reality.  But  though  the  bar- 
riers went  down  in  the  west,  they  were  lifted  in  the 
east — just  another  chapter  in  the  story  of  German  re- 
sistance. 

One  of  Germany's  greatest  war  advantages  is  that 
she  dominates  her  alliance  and  that  she  in  turn  is  domi- 
nated by  the  most  determined  collection  of  men  in  the 
world — rendered  partly  so  by  the  fact  that  their  whole 
By  stem  is  staked  on  winning.  These  men  have  been  en- 
4lbled  to  bring  the  maanmum  strength  of  their  alliancB 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    167 

to  hear  at  any  given  time,  whereas  the  Allies  have  been 
fighting  the  enemy  fractionally  and  serially. 

In  the  first  place,  for  example,  the  British  Navy 
was  leashed,  as  I  have  shown. 

Secondly,  the  French  army  engaged  the  bulk  of  the 
German  army  while  Britain  built  up  her  military 
forces. 

Thirdly,  when  the  British  army  had  reached  its  max- 
imum striking  power  the  armies  of  France  had,  because 
of  enormous  losses,  passed  their  maximum  offensive 
power. 

Fourthly,  when  Russia  was  actively  engaged  in  the 
war  we  were  not. 

Fifthly,  when  we  are  in  the  war,  Russia  is  out. 

In  short,  those  who  attribute  Germany's  resistance 
to  the  miraculous  should  bear  in  mind  that  though  she 
may  be  said  to  be  fighting  the  whole  world  she  does  not 
have  to  fight  it  all  at  once. 

Furthermore,  her  leaders  are  enabled  through  their 
system  of  government  to  make  use  of  every  scrap,  hu- 
man and  material,  that  they  can  muster — ^legless  sol- 
diers mend  uniforms ;  prostitutes  are  not  given  free  rein 
to  put  German  soldiers  out  of  action  but  are  rounded  up 
to  fill  cartridges  to  put  Allied  soldiers  out  of  action; 
the  children  are  mobilised  for  countless  collections,  and 
so  on. 

!N^o  heads  of  state  have  such  a  simple  problem  in  one 
respect  as  those  of  Germany.  The  only  question  before 
them  on  any  contemplated  measure  is:  Will  it  benefit 
the  empire  ?  If  it  will,  their  government  machinery  us- 
ually permits  them  to  put  it  immediately  into  operation 
in  the  form  of  a  military  or  police  order,  and  the  public 
unquestionably  obeys.     In  parliamentary  countries,  dis- 


i68   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

cussions  by  a  wide  field  of  men,  most  of  them  not  ex- 
perts, are  generally  necessary. 

In  London,  for  example,  there  has  been  considerable 
agitation  among  both  the  military  and  the  civil  authori- 
ties for  nearly  four  years  to  solve  the  street-walking 
problem.  In  the  meantime,  Coventry  Street,  leading 
from  Piccadilly  Circus  to  Leicester  Square,  has  devel- 
oped into  what  one  prominent  Englishman  calls  "the 
vilest  thoroughfare  in  the  world."  In  this  matter  the 
English  charcteristic  of  freedom  of  the  individual  is 
carried  too  far. 

In  London,  I  found  some  American  army  doctors  who 
believed  that  they  had  come  to  Europe  to  treat  wounded 
men  within  sound  of  the  guns,  and  who  were  unpleas- 
antly surprised  when  they  found  themselves  working  to 
their  utmost  in  military  hospitals  for  venereal  disease, 
so  great  is  the  havoc  wrought  by  the  army  of  women 
whose  sole  interest  in  the  war  is  in  the  uniformed  pat- 
ronage it  brings  them.  Under  the  German  system  of 
government  a  stroke  of  the  military  pen  would  change 
these  women  from  a  debit  to  an  asset  for  waging  war. 

"Only  a  side  issue,"  you  may  say.  Well,  it  is  by 
adding  up  a  few  score  of  these  seemingly  side-issues  that 
you  begin  to  get  down  to  the  reason  why  Germany  con- 
tinues to  stagger  the  globe. 

As  in  national  questions,  so  in  international,  the  de- 
cision rests  upon,  "Will  it  benefit  the  Empire?"  Bel- 
gium is  the  shining  example  of  such  policy.  In  con- 
sidering a  question  of  German  ability  to  hold  out,  how- 
ever, it  is  necessary  to  include  what  Germany  did  aft«r 
she  got  into  Belgium.  In  order  to  pay  for  her  huge 
imports,  she  had  to  give  up  some  of  her  cherished  gold ; 
but  she  also  exchanged  commodities,  the  chief  of  which 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    169 

were  coal  and  manufactured  steel  products.  Some  of 
the  coal  and  iron  was  lier  own,  to  be  sure,  but  a  great 
amount  came  from  the  occupied  districts  of  France  and 
Belgium.  Now,  Belgian  coal,  dug  hy  Belgian  miners, 
under  the  supervision  of  the  invader — these  miners,  fed 
hy  Belgian  relief  supplies  donated  hy  Germany's  ene- 
mies and  neutrals — exchanged  for  meat  and  oil  from 
Holland  or  wood  pulp  from  Sweden,  made  no  strain 
upon  German  national  resources  as  they  existed  up  to 
the  heginning  of  the  war. 

When  Hindenburg  became  Generalissimo,  he  made 
such  a  comb-out  among  civilians  for  new  levies  that  I 
found  Germany  looking  like  mobilisation  days  all  over 
again.  But  Hindenburg  went  too  far,  for  he  weakened 
the  economic  life  that  sustained  the  armies.  All  the 
prisoners  were  working  under  driving  pressure  as  were 
most  of  the  women,  but  these  did  not  suffice.  So  the 
German  leaders  looked  about,  saw  a  way  out  of  the 
difficulty,  threw  another  Hague  agreement  to  the  winds 
and  organised  their  colossal  slave-raids  in  Belgium  and 
France.  This  was  not  an  isolated  piece  of  Prussian 
brutality,  as  it  is  generally  viewed,  but  a  distinct  link 
in  the  chain  of  German  resistance.  Once  more  Ger- 
many's necessity,  or  supposed  necessity,  had  become  the 
sole  determinant. 

Nevertheless,  under  the  wastage  and  wear  of  an  ever- 
growing war,  the  German  labour  shortage  had  again  be- 
come acute  in  1918.  After  tapping  the  "liberated" 
provinces,  the  Kaiser's  efficiency  directors  once  more 
looked  about  and  became  convinced  that  some  German 
women  were  not  doing  real  war-work.  They  therefore 
planned  the  activities  desired  and  legislated — or  let  us 
more  correctly  say,  commanded — that  the  wives  of  Ger- 


170   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

man  soldiers  who  refuse  to  do  what  the  Government 
suggests,  shall  have  their  separation  allowances  an- 
nulled, and  that  other  women  who  can  not  be  affected 
in  this  way,  shall  be  denied  the  food  cards  which  stand 
between  them  and  starvation  if  they  refuse  Government 
work.  This  simply  means  that  all  German  women  can 
now  be  legally  compelled  to  do  the  work  of  blacksmiths 
or  oxen  for  ten  or  twelve  hours  a  day. 

The  almost  negligible  minority  among  us  who  petu- 
lantly declare  they  might  just  as  well  be  under  the 
Kaiser  when  they  threaten  to  strike  for  "five  eight-hour 
days  per  week,  and  double-time  for  Saturdays,"  would 
do  well  to  bear  in  mind  this  gentle  German  device  in 
regard  to  labour  as  well  as  low  wages,  long  hours,  and 
machine-gun  antidotes  for  strikes. 

But  all  this  is  part  of  German  efficiency.  To  the 
leaders  the  war  is  a  material  thing;  therefore,  to  neg- 
lect to  employ  all  available  material,  is  something  be- 
yond their  comprehension.  They  believe,  and  have  edu* 
cated  their  people  to  believe,  that  everything  must  be 
done  to  win  the  war  since  Germany's  whole  future, 
which  includes  their  material  happiness,  and  that  of 
their  children,  is  entirely  dependent  upon  the  outcome 
of  the  struggle.  In  the  details  given  in  this  chapter  and 
in  all  details  connected  with  the  war,  the  Germans  are 
always  out  to  win. 

In  this  respect  my  mind  goes  back  to  a  little  inci- 
dent in  the  retreat  from  Antwerp.  I  was  wondering 
where,  when  and  how  the  Belgians  could  hold  up  the 
German  onslaught,  when  in  the  night  I  came  upon  little 
knots  of  men  in  sailor  hats,  footsore,  confessedly  be- 
wildered, but  cheery  and  thoroughly  game.  These  men 
of  the  British  Naval  Reserve  were  some  of  the  best  fel- 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    171] 

lows  I  have  met  during  the  past  four  years,  but  they 
would  be  the  last  to  assert  that  they  had  been  in  the 
least  prepared  to  hold  back  the  scientific,  highly-trained 
army  against  them.  Some  of  the  fragments  of  conver- 
sation linger  with  me  now, — fragments  uttered  while 
we  stumbled  along  in  the  dark  before  the  enemy. 

"So  you  have  been  travelling  around  a  bit,"  said  one 
to  me.  "What  is  the  news  about  the  war  ?"  The  spot- 
light of  the  interest  of  the  world  was  f  ocussed  on  us,  but 
such  is  the  complexity  of  the  great  struggle  that  a  per- 
spective is  not  always  easy. 

They  made  no  excuses  for  the  fact  that  they  were 
retreating  instead  of  advancing,  and  they  told  me  in  a 
straightforward  manner  of  how  the  Germans  had  got 
the  best  of  their  particular  group.  All  war  was  new 
to  them,  and  they  spoke  only  with  interest  and  not  with 
reproach.  At  dawn  they  saw  the  enemy  advancing  un- 
der a  white  flag.  Apparently  they  did  not  consider  it 
in  the  least  extraordinary  that  the  flag  had  to  be  escorted 
by  whole  companies.  At  length  the  Germans  substi- 
tuted the  red,  white  and  black  for  the  flag  of  white  and 
rushed  the  fort.  Sauve  qui  pent  rang  out,  and  the 
little  group  escaped.  These  men  somehow  reminded  me 
of  an  American  college  football  team  after  a  hard  game, 
as  they  moved  along  bunched  together  with  their  coats 
thrown  jauntily  over  their  shoulders  like  blankets.  But 
they  had  had  a  first-hand  lesson  that  Germany  is  not 
playvng  foothall  or  cricket.  From  first  to  last  she  is 
out  with  the  gloves  off  to  win  the  war,  and  if  she  fails, 
it  will  not  be  through  lack  of  trying  every  device  of 
science,  ingenuity,  and  trickery  on  her  fronts,  behind 
her  fronts,  and  behind  her  enemies'  fronts. 

"Germany  simply  can't  win,"  I  heard  one  night  after 


172   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

my  return  to  I^ew  York.  "Mneteen  nations  are  at  wa> 
against  her," — this  said  with  a  tone  of  finality  which 
left  me  in  no  doubt  of  the  speaker's  opinion  that  "nine- 
teen to  one"  was  the  keynote  to  success. 

The  phenomenon  that  most  important  governments  of 
the  world  have  broken  with  Germany,  is  not  only  an 
ethical  barometer,  but  it  can  be  turned  to  practical  use. 

For  the  moment,  however,  let  us  consider  the  mis- 
leading sure-cure  prescription  of  nineteen-to-one — or 
twenty-three  according  to  later  score.  If  we  carefully 
count  up  Siam  and  Nicaragua  among  the  forces  bat- 
tering Germany,  is  it  quite  correct  to  omit  those  nations 
battling  by  her  side?  Austria-Hungary,  with  eleven 
million  more  people  than  France,  entered  the  war  with 
an  army  second  only  to  that  of  Germany  in  the  com- 
pleteness of  its  equipment  and  the  definiteness  of  its 
plan.  Are  we  to  leave  out  of  account  its  vast,  natural 
resources  and  the  thundering  arsenals  of  Scoda,  which 
rival  those  of  Krupp?  The  Bulgars,  a  hardy-peasant 
soldiery,  more  than  self-sustaining,  are  tying  up  and 
inflicting  losses  upon  considerable  allied  forces  in  Mace- 
donia— forces  which  are  unavailable  for  the  decisive 
battles  in  France.  Britain's  foremost  military  critic  has 
clung  to  the  principle  since  the  beginning  that  this  is 
a  war  of  attrition  in  which  the  killing  of  Germans  is 
the  prime  essential. 

Did  the  tens  of  thousands  of  some  of  the  finest  sol- 
diers of  the  British  Empire  kill  any  Germans  when  they 
went  down  before  the  Sultan's  armies  in  the  Darda- 
nelles ?  Or  are  British  soldiers  killing  Germans  in  Pal- 
estine and  Mesopotamia  ?  Then  why  leave  Turkey  out 
of  the  count  ?     Moreover,  Germany  continues  to  get  lim- 


SECRET  OF  GERMAN  RESISTANCE    173 

ited  supplies  of  much-needed  cotton  and  wool  from  the 
Turkish  Empire. 

The  "one,"  then,  is  inaccurate  in  the  nineteen-to-one 
argument. 

What  about  the  nineteen? 

Has  each  been  concentrating  every  scrap  of  energy, 
human  and  material,  upon  the  one  purpose  of  winning 
the  war  ?  That  is  what  Germany  and  her  Prussianised 
allies  have  been  doing. 

In  brief,  has  Germany  been  fighting  all  the  forces 
that  the  world  might  have  brought  against  her,  or  has 
she  been  fighting  a  collection  of  fractional  forces  ? 


CHAPTER  YII 


THE   DECISIVE   WEAPON 


THE  cave  man  met  his  opponent  face  to  face  and 
fough.t  him  with  his  hands,  and  his  feet,  and 
his  teeth.  Less  primitive,  he  fashioned  a  hammer  of 
stone  which  aided  him  in  the  settlement  of  differences 
of  opinion.  Later,  the  spear  enabled  him  to  slay  before 
his  opponent  could  grapple  with  him.  The  arrow  in- 
creased the  area  of  combat,  until  along  came  the  man 
with  the  gun  who  killed  from  safe  distance  the  savage 
with  the  bow.  The  cannon  developed  range  until  aimed 
by  intricate  mathematical  formula)  it  enables  civilised 
man  to  kill  those  whom  he  never  knew  and  never  saw. 

As  the  world  becomes  increasingly  complex,  so  does 
war.  In  the  beginning,  men  fought  singly,  then  in 
groups,  then  in  armies,  then  in  whole  nations  and  com- 
binations of  nations.  War  on  sea  became  as  important 
as  war  on  land  and  was  united  to  it.  In  the  third  cen- 
tury before  Christ,  in  the  first  of  the  three  acts  of  the 
death  struggle  between  Eome  and  Carthage,  the  Ro- 
mans, confining  their  operations  to  land,  saw  that  they 
had  no  chance  of  success  until  they  built  a  fleet  to  pre- 
vent the  enemy's  ships  harassing  their  coast.  They  took 
as  a  model  a  Carthaginian  ship  which  was  wrecked 
on  their  shores  and  built  up  the  fleet  that  enabled  them 
to  grapple  with  the  seamen  from  Africa. 

Had  Rome  not  imitated  the  superior  weapon  of  her 
J74 


THE  DECISIVE  WEAPON  175 

enemy,  the  liistory  of  the  world  would  have  been  dif- 
ferent. So  it  has  been  through  the  ages.  In  the  weap- 
ons of  war,  one  must  catch  up  or  go  under.  For  a  few 
days  the  outcome  of  our  Civil  War  centred  largely  upon 
the  new  idea  of  armouring  ships.  Had  the  North  con- 
servatively stuck  to  the  wooden  variety,  the  future  would 
have  been  materially  altered.  That  it  is  not  was  due 
to  the  counter-armour  device  of  Ericsson's  Monitor. 

In  the  present  war,  Germany  almost  cleared  the  way 
to  the  Channel  ports  by  the  use  of  a  weapon  which  she 
had  solemnly  sworn  at  the  Second  Hague  Conference  of 
1907  not  to  use.  Horror  and  denunciation  of  her  use 
of  gas  swelled  throughout  the  world.  Yet  the  enemies 
of  Germany  quickly  resorted  to  it  for  the  simple  reason 
that  to  stick  to  an  agreement  which  the  other  fellow  had 
violated  and  thus  obtained  a  tremendous  material  ad- 
vantage, might  result  in  being  worn  down  and  being 
defeated  in  the  field  in  the  long  run. 

Germany's  guilt  in  using  poisonous  gas  was  not  that 
she  caused  suffering  and  death,  for  all  war  does  that; 
but  that  she  broke  an  agreement.  She  is  first  and  last 
out  to  win  and  is  determined  to  use  all  her  weapons  to 
the  fullest.  We  must  do  likewise.  This  does  not  mean 
that  we  should  resort  to  debasing  tactics.  We  should 
not  seek  to  emulate  the  cases  of  the  sinking  of  the  Bel- 
gian Prince  and  the  murder  of  Captain  Fryatt.  But 
in  the  nature  of  this  war  both  sides  have  certain  advan- 
tages. If  one  side  utilises  to  the  fullest  its  advantages, 
while  the  other  side  fails  to  do  so,  the  latter  stands  an 
excellent  chance  to  awaken  some  day  to  the  realisation 
that  it  has  poured  out  its  blood  and  treasure  to  little 
purpose ;  and,  too  late,  to  say,  "It  might  have  been !" 

We  have  seen  in  the  last  chapter  the  result  of  the 


176  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Allies'  inability  to  use  their  sea  weapon  to  the  utmost 
from  the  very  beginning.  Let  us  take  two  extreme 
cases :  First,  suppose  that  all  the  nations  that  are  and 
have  been  the  enemy  of  Germany  during  the  past  four 
years  could  have  seen  that  she  was  an  enemy  to  them 
all  and  must  be  beaten.  Acting  upon  this,  suppose  that 
all  of  these  had  immediately  jumped  in,  cut  Germany 
off  from  the  outside,  and  set  wholeheartedly  to  work  to 
rain  sledge-hammer  blows  upon  her.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances, even  the  pan-German  fire-eating  Count  Re- 
ventlow  would  long  ago  have  admitted  that  his  country 
had  not  the  shadow  of  a  chance. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  other  extreme — the  extreme 
which  might  have  happened  had  the  German  leaders 
been  less  drunk  with  German  power,  more  knowing  in 
the  psychology  of  other  peoples  and  consequently  less 
ignorant  of  the  limits  of  intimidation.  Suppose  that 
Great  Britain  had  continued  rigidly  to  adhere  to  the 
Declaration  of  London  and  Germany  had  continued  her 
importations.  There  are  some  who  would  have  said 
that  Great  Britain  had  played  a  good  sporting  game  in 
adhering  to  the  sea  rules  formulated  in  1909.  Possibly 
true.  But  this  solace  would  be  a  poor  substitute  for  the 
Allied  cause  which  would  inevitably  have  gone  down 
to  defeat. 

In  the  fifth  year  of  war,  we  may  look  back  with  re- 
gret that  we  could  not  have  had  the  gift  of  vision  to 
have  hammered  Germany  all  together.  But  on  the  other 
hand,  the  facts  as  they  are  justify  us  in  expectations  of 
victory  if  we  use  all  our  weapons  to  the  fullest.  We  hold 
the  cards.    All  we  need  do  is  play  them  correctly. 

I  have  seen  the  food  supply  diminish  in  all  the  war- 
ring nations  of  Europe.    Yet  in  this  respect,  I  find  it 


THE  DECISIVE  WEAPON  177 

highly  significant  that  Germany  and  Austria  were  vast- 
ly worse  off  at  the  end  of  the  second  year  of  war  than 
England  and  France  at  the  end  of  the  fourth.  Although 
Germany's  low  food  line  of  the  third  year  of  war  has 
been  jacked  up  sufficiently  to  prevent  it  falling  much 
further  it  continues  along  the  frontier  between  discom- 
fort and  defeat. 

Herr  Batocki,  former  Food  Controller,  and  now  Gov- 
ernor of  the  agrarian  province  of  East  Prussia,  was 
forced  to  throw  light  upon  the  situation  in  June,  1918, 
when  he  defended  the  official  methods  of  distribution. 
He  said: 

"The  cutting  off  of  Germany  from  world-trade  be- 
comes ever  more  effective,  and  this,  combined  with  often, 
unfavourable  harvest  weather  in  Germany,  in  the  coun- 
tries of  our  allies,  and  in  the  occupied  territories,  makes 
the  system  of  feeding  the  Army  and  the  non-agricultural 
population  appear  as  an  indispensable  emergency 
bridge  which,  artificially  put  together,  narrow,  and 
shaky  though  it  is,  provides  a  way  across  the  abyss  of 
destruction.  The  bridge  is  supported  by  three  principal 
pillars — ^bread,  potatoes,  and  com  fodder  for  the 
horses,  needed  by  the  Army  and  by  industry.  If  one 
of  these  pillars  breaks,  Germany  will  fall  into  the 
abyss  and  succumb  to  the  terrible  fate  which  our  Anglo- 
Saxon  enemies  and  their  vassals  have  prepared  for  us. 
Every  year  the  pillars  begin,  in  the  last  months  before 
the  harvest,  to  shake  and  crack. 

"The  first  business  of  the  public  food  control  is  to 
seize  supplies  as  completely  as  possible,  to  prevent  all 
unnecessary  consumption  of  food  as  fodder,  and  rightly 
to  distribute  the  bread  cereals,  the  fodder  cereals,  and 
the  potatoes  during  the  critical  last  months  of  the  year, 
so  as  to  prevent  the  cracking  and  shaking  of  the  piDars 


178  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

from  ending  in  collapse.  Every  year  thus  far  we  have 
been  able  to  do  this,  although  with  great  difficulty,  and 
we  shall  be  able  to  go  on  doing  it  with  the  help  of  God 
and  our  good  sword,  which  has  always  at  the  right  time 
— in  the  Balkans,  then  in  Roumania,  and  this  time  by 
the  Eastern  peace — opened  up  fresh  possibilities  of  sup- 
ply, although  the  supplies  for  the  present  flow  but 
scantily." 

Herr  BatockiV  remarks,  then,  officially  confirm  the 
precarious  food  conditions  I  saw  in  Germany.  It  is 
clearly  evident  that  the  "cracking  and  shaking  of  the 
pillars"  would  indeed  have  ended  in  collapse  had  Ger- 
many really  been  blockaded  from  the  beginning.  As  it 
is,  however,  the  partial  blockade  has  reduced  her  to  a 
condition  which  should  afford  us  hopes  of  victory  and  in- 
dicate to  us  the  means  of  achieving  it. 

I  deem  it  of  prime  importance  that  more  and  more 
of  Germany's  ablest  men  are  seeing  with  increasing 
clearness  the  menace  of  the  economic  weapon.  They 
understand  it,  for  it  has  been  one  of  their  favourites 
in  time  of  peace.  In  their  trade-relations  with  other 
nations,  the  Germans  practised  a  policy  which  they 
called  Gegenseitigkeit  und  Yergeltwng,  which  means 
reciprocity  and  retaliation.  Other  nations  practised 
"reciprocity,"  but  only  Germany,  with  its  unique  com- 
bination of  science  and  primitive  ideas  about  intimida- 
tion added  "retaliation."  The  method  was  painfully 
simple.  The  country  to  which  Germany  made  advances 
of  reciprocity  was  not  free  to  accept  them  or  decline 
them.    If  it  did  not  accept  them,  it  would  be  punished. 

We  find  an  example  of  this  when  Canada  adopted 
the  principle  of  the  maximum  and  minimum  tariff  in 
which  Great  Britain  became  entitled  to  the  benefits  of 


THE  DECISIVE  WEAPON  179 

the  lower  tariff.  Germany,  however,  demanded  equal 
benefits  on  the  ground  of  the  most  favoured  nation  trea- 
ties. Canada  refused  to  recognise  this  demand,  where- 
upon Germany  retaliated  by  punishing  Canadian  prod- 
ucts through  an  increase  of  duties  upon  them.  But  the 
Canadians  are  an  ultra-independent  folk  and  among  the 
least  likely  on  the  globe  to  be  cowed  by  German  meth- 
ods. They  therefore  replied  by  erecting  an  almost  pro- 
hibitive barrier  against  the  products  of  Germany.  This 
caused  trade  between  the  two  countries  to  diminish 
nearly  to  zero,  while  Canadian-British  and  Canadian- 
American  trade  developed  rapidly.  A  stiff  upper  lip 
and  a  sufficiency  of  force  will  always  quell  a  bully  in 
the  long  run.  So  when  Germany  realised  that  her  re- 
taliation policy  had  driven  her  wares  out  of  Canadian 
markets  without  noticeably  affecting  Canada,  she  sued 
humbly  to  negotiate  an  exchange  of  products  on  a  fair 
basis. 

We  see  from  this  that  a  pitchfork  is  a  perfectly  good 
weapon  to  use  on  a  bull,  and  the  uttered  fears  of  Ger- 
man commercial  leaders  reveal  that  we  have  a  first- 
class  pitchfork  in  the  economic  weapon.  The  enemies 
of  Germany  leagued  together  control  so  great  a  part  of 
the  world's  raw  products  and  so  dominate  the  trade 
routes  by  sea  and  land,  harbours  and  coaling  stations, 
that  they  can,  if  they  will  act  together,  so  apply  the 
economic  weapon  that  Germany  simply  cannot  win. 

This  weapon,  of  course,  must  not  be  used  singly  but  in 
conjunction  with  our  other  weapons.  Some  men  have 
one  panacea;  others,  another  for  winning  the  war. 
Those  whose  thoughts  have  never  outgrown  military 
headgear,  are  prone  to  speak  only  of  armies,  with  some 
of  these  inclining  to  one  branch,  such  as  the  airplane. 


i8o  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Other  critics  put  all  their  hope  in  blockade,  others  in 
propaganda  and  still  others  in  the  magic  cure-all  of  a 
"gathering  around  the  table."  A  few  who  still  fail  to 
understand  the  peculiar  little  ways  of  Prussian  temper- 
ament, or  are  addicted  to  something  worse,  are  con- 
vinced that  peace  might  be  best  brought  about  if  we 
would  expose  the  other  cheek  to  the  fist  of  mail. 

The  point  is,  all  weapons  are  necessary.  Take  the 
purely  military  ones,  for  example.  Assuming  that  the 
armies  of  either  side  collapsed,  our  other  weapons  would 
be  valueless.  Therefore,  even  though  neither  army 
oould  win  in  itself,  it  must  be  strong  enough  to  pre- 
vent the  other  army  doing  so.  For  more  than  four 
years  of  war,  that  is  precisely  what  has  been  happening. 
An  army  might  be  weakened  from  the  rear,  however,  to 
such  an  extent  that  it  would  ultimately  succumb.  That 
is  one  aim  of  the  German  submarine  warfare.  It  is  also 
one  aim  of  our  blockade.  It  is,  therefore,  conceivable 
that  these  so-called  secondary  weapons  might  in  the 
long-run  prove  the  primary  ones. 

Blockade  not  only  affects  armies,  but  it  affects  whole 
nations  behind  them, — first,  materially  and  from  this 
temperamentally.  This  is  a  war  of  exhaustion,  and  in 
such  a  war  these  effects  of  blockade  are  of  first  im- 
portance. 

The  one  thing  that  buoys  up  each  side  is  hope.  De- 
prive either  of  it  and  the  other  wins.  Hope  is  the 
greatest  boon  to  the  human  race.  It  has  saved  lives 
and  made  republics  and  empires.  When  we  convince 
the  German  people  that  further  sacrifices  and  depriva- 
tions are  useless,  we  shall  be  within  sight  of  peace; 
and  conversely,  until  we  do  convince  them,  they  will  con- 
tinue to  be  the  willing  instruments  of  their  leaders. 


THE  DECISIVE  WEAPON  181 

Only  during  one  period  of  the  war  thus  far  has  hope 
almost  faded  from  them.  That  was  in  the  summer 
and  autumn  of  1916  when  food  shortage,  the  break- 
down at  Verdun,  and  the  combined  attacks  east  and 
west  so  shook  Germany  that  her  much-vaunted  unity  was 
threatened.  Pessimism  was  contagious.  Everybody 
grumbled.  Nobody  smiled  publicly.  As  I  passed 
among  them  I  felt  like  a  man  standing  on  a  dripping 
landscape  with  all  horizons  leaden-hued.  At  last  the 
German  Government  was  up  against  it  with  its  own 
people.  It  played  its  Hindenburg  card,  and  was  suc- 
cessful more  through  Allied  weakness  than  German 
strength — tremendous  as  that  is.  The  clouds  lifted 
over  Roumania  and  Russia,  and  the  sustaining  sun- 
shine of  hope  burst  forth  upon  the  Central  Powers. 

Once  more  the  leaders  sought  to  imbue  the  people 
with  the  spirit  to  hold  out  and  endure  anything  rather 
than  yield.  After  studying  the  war  on  both  sides,  from 
the  beginning  I  am  convinced  that  the  will-to-win  will 
be  the  final  determinant.  It  has  been  developed  in  the 
Germans  to  a  high  degree  through  a  combination  of 
patriotism,  delusion,  and  the  horror  of  the  taxation 
burdens  consequent  upon  defeat. 

We  can  win  only  if  we  develop  it  to  an  equal  and 
even  greater  extent.  We  can  crack  the  German  people's 
will  to  win  if  we  but  smash  their  hope  to  win.  When 
that  happens,  the  people  may  demand  something  definite 
in  the  way  of  peace  t«rms  from  their  leaders.  This  can 
only  be  accomplished  through  a  combination  of  all  the 
forces  we  possess. 

One  of  these  continues  to  be  blockade.  Frankly,  my 
observations  have  made  me  feel  that  without  blockade, 
the  Allied  armies  can  not  win.     With  it  properly  ap- 


i82   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

plied,  they  can  not  lose.  The  supplies  drawn  hy  the 
enemy  from  Eoumania  are  confessedly  for  us  a  draw- 
back, but  only  a  drawback.  Even  neglecting  them, 
however,  we  are  certain  in  time  to  exhaust  Germany 
now  that  we  have  her  cut  off  from  the  seas  in  the  West 
if  we  can  'prevent  her  utilising  Russia  for  supplier. 
Not  only  "after  the  war,"  but  winning  this  war  depends 
largely  upon  our  success  in  Russia  in  the  blockade 
sense.  If  we  do  not  find  it  feasible  to  send  armies,  we 
can  at  least  send  "educators," — ^not  the  kind  that  go 
about  in  silk  hats  and  frock  coats — to  convince  spirits 
grown  restive  under  German  domination  of  the  desir- 
ability of  interfering  with  lines  of  communication  and 
otherwise  obstructing  the  movement  of  products  west- 
ward. 

The  economic  weapon  as  a  bargaining  implement  ia 
blockade  carried  to  the  peace  conference.  Eight  here 
bobs  up  a  difficulty.  In  using  any  weapon  of  war,  the 
Allies  have  been  thus  far  not  so  firmly  cemented  to- 
gether as  our  enemies.  The  latter  know  this  perfectly 
well  and  will  seek  in  the  future,  even  more  than  they 
have  done  in  the  past,  to  take  advantage  of  it. 

They  fear  the  economic  weapon  and  are  getting  ready 
to  meet  it.  Well-informed  Germans  see  themselves  up 
against  two  problems : 

1.  To  get  raw  materials  after  the  war. 

2.  To  provide  the  ships  to  bring  them  home. 

Until  late  in  1916  the  Germans  were  extremely  opti- 
mistic on  the  after-war  shipping  problem.  In  their 
minds  they  would  obtain  an  immediate  advantage  at 
the  close  of  a  war  during  which  they  slaughtered  enemy 
and  neutral  shipping  while  they  continued  their  own 
building.     Two  things,  however,  have  interfered  with 


THE  DECISIVE  WEAPON  183 

iMs  delightful  programme  for  getting  the  jump  on  the 
rest  of  the  world.  First,  Hindenburg's  comb-out,  plus 
increased  TJ-boat  construction,  greatly  reduced  building 
for  after  the  war;  second,  the  entrance  of  the  United 
States  and  Brazil. 

Before  the  war,  Germany's  mercantile  marine  com- 
prised 5,200,000  gross  tonnage.  Of  this  more  than 
2,000,000  tons  have  been  sunk  or  are  in  the  hands  of 
her  enemies,  while  upwards  of  1,000,000  tons  are  locked 
up  in  the  ports  of  her  allies  or  those  of  neutrals,  mostly 
in  the  latter. 

My  observations  at  German  shipping  centres  lead  me 
to  place  the  total  of  her  merchant  shipping  completed 
since  the  outbreak  of  war  at  380,000  tons.  Adding 
this  to  that  in  her  own  ports  and  those  of  her  allies, 
plus  that  taken  in  the  Black  sea,  she  has  only  half  of 
her  pre-war  amount  ready  at  hand.  Paraphrasing  a 
ono-time  popular  song,  this  can  be  "all  steamed  up  and 
have  no  place  to  go."  We  should  keep  this  little  para- 
phrase in  mind,  for  it  is  one  of  the  high  trumps  among 
our  weapons,  and  we  should  play  it  with  the  rest. 

As  I  have  previously  remarked,  however,  the  Ger- 
man leaders  are  a  determined  set  of  men.  Realising 
the  plight  of  their  shipping  and  modem  Germany's  de- 
pendence upon  it,  they  have  formulated  scheme  after 
scheme  to  put  it  on  its  feet  again.  Their  latest  plan  is 
for  the  Government  to  make  direct  grants  to  the  ship 
owners  which  will  enable  them  to  replace  what  they 
have  lost.  In  return  for  these  direct  subsidies,  which 
.will  never  be  repaid,  the  Government  reserves  a  claim 
to  any  indemnification  which  might  be  obtained  from 
foreign  countries  and  to  regulate  the  uses  to  which 
ships  shall  be  put.     Subsidised  ships  may  not  be  sold 


i84  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

to  aliens  during  a  period  of  ten  years  after  they  are 
put  in  commission,  nor  may  any  chartering  or  freight 
contracts  aifecting  such  ships  be  concluded  with  aliens 
for  ten  years  without  government  permit.  In  order  to 
speed  up  construction,  the  subsidies  will  be  on  a  sliding 
scale.  They  may  amount  to  from  60  to  80  per  cent  of 
the  peace  value  if  the  ship  is  put  in  commission  three 
years  after  the  conclusion  of  peace,  with  a  decline  to 
20  per  cent  in  the  tenth  year. 

Even  more  than  shipping,  however,  the  raw  materials 
question  is  bothering  the  Germans.  In  order  to  present 
a  solid  front  at  the  peace  negotiations  in  this  matter, 
they  began  systematically  soon  after  the  beginning  of 
their  great  spring  offensive  of  1918  to  bring  together 
in  liability  companies  the  whole  industrial,  commercial, 
financial,  and  shipping  forces  of  the  Empire. 

At  this  point  it  is  useful  to  go  back  a  little  to  those 
years  preceding  the  war  when  Germany  was  filled  with 
discussion  on  colonial  expansion.  At  that  time,  Paul 
Rohrbach,  one  of  her  leading  economists  and  a  bril- 
liantly clear  thinker,  said  in  connection  with  peaceful 
penetration : 

"Our  land  and  climate,  under  conditions  that  will 
continue  as  far  as  one  can  foresee,  allow  the  production 
of  cereals  for  some  40,000,000  people.  Hence,  in  a  few 
years,  it  will  be  necessary  to  buy  bread  from  abroad,  not 
to  the  extent  of  one-sixth  or  one-fifth  as  now,  but  of 
nearly  one-half. 

"Whoever  buys  from  abroad  must  give  back  in  return 
either  money  or  goods.  But  we  do  not  possess  a  single 
commodity  which  we  can  produce  in  such  quantities  that 
it  can  be  an  equivalent  for  this  foreign  bread.  We  have 
neither  precious  metals  in  great  abundance  nor  valuable 


THE  DECISIVE  WEAPON  185 

plants,  nor  coal,  iron,  and  ores  in  superfluity.  Further- 
more, we  have  hardly  any  of  the  raw  materials  neces- 
sary for  our  industry  in  adequate  quantities  at  home. 
We  import  iron,  copper,  wool  and  flax;  we  do  not  pos- 
sess a  single  fibre  of  cotton  or  silk,  not  to  speak  of 
less  needful  stuffs. 

"The  only  way  of  purchasing  food  from  abroad  for 
our  surplus  population  is  by  importing  raw  materials, 
multiplying  their  value  by  the  process  of  manufacture, 
and  then  paying  other  nations  who  need  our  product 
with  this  increased  value  which  our  labour  has  given 
to  the  original  material. 

"We  must  resign  ourselves  to  the  fact  that  there  is 
no  possibility  of  acquiring  colonies  suitable  for  emigra- 
tion.* But  if  we  can  not  have  such  colonies,  it  by  no 
means  follows  that  we  can  not  obtain  the  advantages 
which  make  these  colonies  desirable.  It  is  a  mistake 
to  regard  the  mere  possession  of  trans-oceanic  terri- 
tories, even  when  they  are  able  to  absorb  the  national 
surplus  of  population,  as  necessarily  a  direct  increase 
of  power.  Australia,  Canada,  and  South  Africa  do 
not  increase  the  power  of  the  Mother  Country  because 
they  are  British  possessions,  nor  even  because  a  few 
million  British  live  in  them,  but  because  by  the  trade 
with  them,  the  wealth  and  with  it  the  defensive  strength 
of  the  Mother  Country  is  increased. 

"Colonies  which  do  not  produce  such  a  result  have 
but  little  value;  and  countries  which  possess  this  im- 
portance for  a  nation,  even  though  they  are  not  its 

*  This  was  written,  of  course,  before  the  war.  When  I  asked 
the  pan-German  Reichstag  member,  Herr  Stresemann,  shortly 
before  the  break  with  America,  whether  Germany  expected  her 
colonies  back  again,  he  replied: 

"We  expect  colonies,  but  not  the  same  ones.  There  will  un- 
doubtedly be  a  juggling  about  of  the  world  map.  For  emigration 
we  shall  demand  the  Baltic  provinces  of  Russia,  Algeria  and  part 
of  Morocco  from  France,  and  possibly  Tripoli  from  Italy." 


i86  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

colonies,   are  in  this  decisive  point  a  substitute  for 
colonial  possessions  in  the  ordinary  sense." 

In  November,  1917,  Professor  Forster  of  Munich, 
replying  to  the  annexationist  demands  of  Admiral  von 
Tirpitz,  sounds  almost  the  same  key  that  Eohrbach 
sounded  years  ago.  Professor  Forster  said:  "Assum- 
ing even  that  we  conquered  all  Italy  and  all  Russia, 
and  in  addition  to  Belgium  held  the  whole  of  the  north 
of  France  as  an  economic  indemnity  and  as  a  base 
against  England,  how  would  all  that  help  us  to  rebuild 
our  world  industry,  which  is  entirely  dependent  upon 
the  gigantic  markets  of  Pan-America  and  of  the  British 
World-Empire  ? 

"It  is  hy  being  carried  upon  the  bach  of  the  BriiisU 
World-Empire  that  we  have  acquired  our  greatest 
riches;  only  by  the  help  of  our  gigantic  export  could 
we  pay  for  our  indispensable  raw  materials — for  ex- 
ample, for  the  wool  which  we  imported  from  England 
to  the  value  of  about  $87,500,000  a  year. 

"The  fundamental  miscalculation  of  our  might  school 
of  politicians  is  that  they  do  not  appreciate  the  simple 
truth  that  there  are  two  parties  to  all  exportation,  and 
that  no  explosives  in  the  world  can  enable  us  to  compel 
a  man  or  a  woman  in  Manchester,  Montreal,  Chicago, 
Cairo,  or  Buenos  Aires,  to  buy  a  single  pair  of  stockings 
from  Chemnitz.  If  people's  hearts  are  closed  to  us, 
their  warehouses  are  closed  to  us  also." 

Professor  Forster  explains  that  he  is  not  discussing 
the  dangers  of  an  official  boycott.  His  argument  is  that 
the  boycott  of  public  opinion  is  infinitely  worse.  Some 
of  his  countrymen,  however,  do  fear  tiie  official  boy- 
cott, among  tJiem  Herr  Eduard  Dettmann,  a  retired 


THE  DECISIVE  WEAPON  187 

consul.  When  presenting  his  views  to  Lis  Government 
in  Marcli,  1918,  he  declared  emphatically: 

"For  our  salvation  we  can  not  too  clearly  realise  that 
the  danger  of  a  raw  material  boycott  is  extremely  seri- 
ous." 

He  then  reviewed  the  whole  field  of  German  trade, 
and,  after  expressing  pessimistic  views  about  German 
dependence  upon  her  enemies  for  cotton,  wool  and  cop- 
per added  that  she  was  equally  dependent  upon  British 
India  for  jute,  upon  India  and  Brazil  for  rubber,  upon 
the  Argentine  for  hides,  upon  Bolivia  for  tin,  and  for 
other  enemy  and  near-enemy  sources  for  palm  oils,  cocoa 
and  manganese  ores.  On  the  other  hand,  developments 
in  the  East  had  diminished  German  anxiety  about 
petroleum,  and  Germany  was  also  less  dependent  upon 
Chili  for  nitrates  owing  to  the  development  of  her  new 
nitrogen  industry.  She  might  also  get  a  sufficiency  of 
manganese  to  harden  her  steel  from  Eussia. 

After  stating  that  Germany's  stoppage  of  her  export 
of  dyes  and  drugs  had  only  resulted  in  the  stimulation 
of  foreign  competition  in  these  lines  for  the  future,  and 
that  the  only  available  German  economic  weapon  would 
be  a  veto  upon  the  export  of  potash,  he  concluded,  with 
a  significance  that  we  should  not  fail  to  grasp : 

*'We  need  the  open  door;  otherwise  our  industry  wiU 
perish.  Consequently  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  push 
the  raw  materials  question  into  the  peace  negotiations 
and  to  make  it  one  of  the  most  important  questions. 
The  peace  must  he  such  as  to  hind  the  Entente  Govern- 
ments to  exercise  no  influence,  direct  or  indirect^  to  the 
injury  of  our  raw  materials  requirements." 

Herr  Dettmann  suggested  that  Germany  should  play 
the  Allies  against  one  another.     America  for  example 


,i88  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

sliOTild  be  told  that  she  can  not  have  potash,  unless  she 
agrees  to  let  Germany  have  a  sufficient  supply  of  cotton 
and  rubber.  Then,  "when  America  is  ready  to  negoti- 
ate," her  influence  must  be  exerted  upon  England  to 
obtain  Australian  wool  for  Germany.  In  like  manner, 
Australia's  interest  in  maintaining  her  German  market 
for  wool,  must  be  exploited  and  Germany  must  refuse 
— even  at  the  cost  of  self-denial — to  import  Brazilian 
coffee  before  Brazil  supplies  the  necessary  rubber. 

We  see  then  the  economic  dangers  which  Germany 
fears  and  how  she  may  try  to  circumvent  them.  We 
possess  the  tremendous  advantage  over  our  enemies  of 
the  economic  weapon,  and  it  would  be  criminal  negli- 
gence toward  the  men  who  are  risking  their  lives  in  our 
cause  if  we  fail  to  apply  it  to  the  utmost.  Spasmodic 
attempts  by  individual  nations  to  use  this  weapon  later 
would  be  of  little  use.  That  would  mean  the  undesir- 
able kind  of  "war-after-the-war."  Such  desultory  tac- 
tics, moreover,  would  be  ineffective  inasmuch  as  the 
old  trade  rivalry  would  spring  up  between  individuals 
and  between  nations ;  and  Germany,  if  her  present  sys- 
tem continued,  could  subtly  play  one  against  the  other. 

We  shall  not  need  any  "war-after-the-war"  if  we 
quickly  develop  during  the  war  a  unity  of  economic  ac- 
tion just  as  we  have  developed  unity  of  military  ac- 
tion. If  we  do  this,  the  fact  that  some  twenty-three 
nations  are  opposed  to  Germany,  will  have  proper  sig- 
nificance. In  this  there  is  almost  unlimited  scope  for 
the  highest  talents  of  statesmanship  the  Allies  possess. 
If  we  can  weld  together  the  countries  fighting  Ger- 
many into  an  indissoluble  unit  to  stand  right  through 
the  war  and  right  up  through  the  last  hour  of  the  peace 
conference,  in  refusing  Germany  all  the  raw  products 


THE  DECISIVE  WEAPON  189 

they  control  and  permission  to  sail  her  ships,  she  will 
be  up  against  a  barrier  she  cannot  pass.  But  there  is 
no  use  in  one  nation  or  two  nations  merely  talking 
about  this.  We  have  got  to  make  a  definite,  concrete 
agreement  that  will  impress  every  German. 

But  this  is  a  war  of  "If's,"  in  the  sense  that  every 
move  depends  upon  certain  other  moves.  The  economic 
threat,  for  example,  would  not  wholly  succeed  unless 
we  solve  the  U-boat  menace  to  the  extent  that  we  are 
certain  to  create  more  new  tonnage  than  is  destroyed. 

I  once  asked  Sir  Thomas  Lipton,  who  is  a  self-made 
man,  what  he  considered  to  be  the  keynote  of  achieve- 
ment. 

"First  make  up  your  mind,"  said  Sir  Thomas, 
"whether  you  really  want  what  you  think  you  want. 
If  you  decide  that  you  do,  and  it  is  worth  while,  con- 
centrate all  your  energies  upon  it  and  do  your  damnedest 
until  you  get  it." 

Sir  Thomas  is  right.  As  with  individuals,  so  with 
nations.  The  first  essential  for  victory  over  Germany 
is  for  us  to  make  up  our  minds  that  playing  the  game 
fair,  we  are  going  to  go  the  limit  to  achieve  it.  Hav- 
ing done  this,  we  must  look  to  all  the  weapons  which  we 
possess  and  can  develop,  and  make  full  use  of  every 
one  of  them.  In  this  most  complex  of  struggles,  these 
weapons,  depending  the  one  upon  the  other,  are: 

1.  To  increase  our  armies  from  the  successful  de- 
fensive stage  to  the  successful  offensive  stage.  This 
means  increase  of  material  as  well  as  troop  numbers. 
After  thorough  preparation  there  is  no  reason  why  air- 
craft and  navies  should  not  render  smashing  service  in 
co-operation  with  land  attacks. 

2.  Tighten  the  blockade  to   the  utmost.      In   this 


190  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Russia  is  tlie  weak  link.  It  can  conceivably  prove  the 
fatal  link  for  us.  We  must  use  every  ingenuity  to  pre- 
vent Russian  supplies  going  to  Germany.  With  the 
economic  line  of  our  enemies  running  along  the  edge  of 
a  precipice  year  after  year,  anything  moving  it  either 
way  may  be  decisive.  But  we  must  recognize  essential 
facts  and  meet  them.  The  Bolshevist  Government  is 
an  enemy  and  must  be  treated  as  such.  The  increasing 
troubles  of  that  regime  are  causing  Germany  great 
anxiety.  As  Paul  Rohrbach  says  in  Deutsche  Politik, 
Germany's  best  economic  organ: 

"Tor  the  present  there  is  no  greater  interest  in  the 
East  then  maintaining  Bolshevism.  The  Bolshevists 
are  ruining  Great  Russia  and  we  ought  to  do  everything 
in  order  that  they  may  continue  activities  which  are 
so  profitable  for  us.  The  Bolshevists  themselves  believe 
that  they  are  the  salvation,  not  only  of  Russia,  but  of 
the  world.  That  is  the  very  best  creed  that  we  can 
want — provided  that  it  remains  confined  to  Great  Rus- 
sia. Great  Russia  for  the  Bolshevists  and  the  Bolshe- 
vists for  us !  Let  us  preserve  the  situation  and  we  shall 
earn  the  gratitude  of  the  Bolshevists  and  the  profita 
for  Germany." 

The  Allies  must  get  rid  of  the  Bolshevists  and  seal 
up  Russia  against  Germany.  Then  the  chain  around 
her  will  choke  her  into  submission. 

3.  Propaganda.  We  must  conduct  this  in  the  first 
place  to  prevent  Germany  weakening  our  will  to  win, 
and,  secondly,  to  enlighten  into  disorganisation  all  pos- 
sible discordant  elements  among  our  enemies. 

4.  Building  up  the  economic  weapon  to  a  degree 
which  vdll  enable  us  to  bring  its  full  application  to  bear 
upon  Germany  to  enforce  our  just  demands.     It  is  the 


THE  DECISIVE  WEAPON  191 

decisive  weapon  in  the  sense  that  it  can  ram  home  to 
the  German  people  the  necessary  truth  that  the  only 
way  in  which  they  can  get  out  into  the  world  of  busi- 
ness again  is  to  acknowledge  their  wrong  and  treat  with 
the  Allies  in  a  spirit  of  fairness  and  not  a  spirit  of 
Deutschland  iiber  alles. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE  INVISIBLE  ABMY 


SO  you  tried  to  escape  last  night,  did  you  ?" 
":N'o,  sir,  I  didn't!" 

The  Prussian  captain,  his  arms  folded  across  his 
chest,  his  whole  manner  domineering,  his  mouth  dis- 
torted into  a  sneer,  looked  contemptuously  at  the  Brit- 
ish prisoner  whom  he  had  singled  out. 

"There  is  no  use  denying  it,"  he  sneered.  "We  know 
all  about  it." 

"But  I  insist,  sir,  that  I  did  not  try  to  escape." 

"That  will  do  for  you  in  the  way  of  denials.  You 
got  frightened  and  backed  out  because  we  nipped  your 
plan  which  we  knew  all  about.  How  did  we  know  all 
about  it,  you  may  wonder?  Well,  I'll  tell  you — your 
French  comrades  gave  you  away.  I  suppose  they  grew 
faint-hearted  and  decided  to  seek  favour  with  us  by 
divulging  everything.'^ 

"But  J  insist,  sir,"  said  the  Englishman,  "that  there 
must  be  a  mistake." 

"No  more  excuses,"  thundered  the  captain.  Thea 
he  turned  to  the  guard,  drawn  up  with  bayoneted  rifles.- 
"Take  him  to  the  guard-house,"  he  commanded.  "He 
will  be  shown  that  we  Germans  stand  no  nonsense." 

Thus  a  British  Tommy,  far  from  home  and  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  turned  away  bewildered — his  only 
plausible  explanation  to  himself  being  that  some  of 

192 


THE  INVISIBLE  ARMY  193 

the  French  in  the  camp  had  lied  in  order  to  curry  favour 
with  the  Germans.  N^aturally,  under  the  hardships  of 
solitary  confinement,  this  thought  would  breed  a  re- 
sentment against  everything  French. 

But  the  morning  work  of  the  Prussian  captain,  a 
skilled  linguist,  had  only  begun.  His  next  duty  was 
to  single  out  a  French  prisoner.  "Hm !  you  poor  mis- 
guided fool!"  he  began.  "So  you  have  tried  to  es- 
cape !" 

The  Frenchman  naturally  looked  amazed.  "But  no, 
my  Captain.  There  must  be  a  mistake.  I  have  not 
tried  to  escape." 

"In  a  way  I'm  sorry  for  you  and  for  the  rest  of  your 
countrymen.  But  you  would  play  the  part  of  the  fool. 
You  would  be  pushed  into  the  war  by  England  to  play 
her  game,  to  suffer  and  bleed  for  her.  She  only  wanted 
to  use  you.  And  now,  after  you're  in,  the  English  show 
the  falseness  which  has  always  been  a  national  trait 
with  them.  That's  why  we  know  of  your  attempt  to 
escape.  We  discovered  your  English  companion  in  the 
act;  and  when  we  questioned  him,  he  broke  down  and 
gave  the  whole  thing  away.  He  showed  how  it  was 
you  who  originated  the  whole  plan.  I  am  sorry  for 
you,  but  in  Prussia,  justice  is  justice,  and  you  have 
got  to  take  your  punishment.     Lead  him  away!" 

And  the  little  poilu,  who  had  perhaps  never  spoken 
with  an  Englishman  in  his  life,  his  mind  perplexed, 
could  tug  his  heart  strings  against  England.  Some  day 
he  would  return  to  his  beloved  France  where  he  could 
tell  any  friends  that  the  war  had  left,  and  his  wife 
and  his  children,  of  the  treachery  of  an  ally.  Like- 
wise, back  to  England,  might  a  British  soldier  carry 


194   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

and  transmit  the  poison  that  had  stabbed  his  heart  in 
a  Prussian  prison  camp. 

I  learned  of  the  incident  narrated  above  from  a  Ger- 
man soldier  eye-witness  who  had  had  the  misfortune  not 
to  have  become  naturalised  during  his  eight  year  resi- 
dence in  America.  He  happened  to  be  visiting  relatives 
in  the  Fatherland  when  he  was  enmeshed  in  the  drag- 
net. His  one  hope  is  to  return  some  day  to  the  United 
States,  where  he  intends  to  make  his  home  and  turn 
his  back  on  Kaiserism  forever. 

I  found  plenty  of  evidence  in  Germany  that  this 
method  of  sowing  dissension  among  prisoners  was 
widely  repeated,  with  variations.  'No  detail  in  the 
plan  for  world-domination  is  considered  too  trifling 
to  be  ignored.  No  act  is  too  low  for  tiie  German  lead- 
ers, if  they  believe  it  will  help  th^i  to  secure  this 
domination. 

Germany  utilised  her  great  prisoners'  camps  to  build 
up  the  propaganda  artillery  with  which  she  battered 
Russia,  the  notorious  General  Friedrich  being  given 
command  of  this  highly  important  campaign  work. 
His  first  step  was  to  single  out  50,000  Uki-ainian  pris- 
oners for  special  treatment.  These  were  told  that  they 
would  have  an  easier  lot  than  the  Poles  and  other  fel- 
low-prisoners. Most  of  them  could  not  even  read  and 
write  their  own  tongue;  but  in  Germany  they  were 
taught  not  only  to  read  and  write  Russian,  but  also,  to 
some  extent,  German.  Like  the  schoolboy  brought  up 
on  German  text-books  in  America,  they  could  read  about 
the  good  things  in  Germany  and  of  what  a  kindly  and 
wonderful  man  is  William  the  Second  and  aU  his  an- 
cestors. 

This  was  done  so  that,  as  General  Friedrich  him- 


THE  INVISIBLE  ARMY  195 

self  said,  "they  might  go  back  to  their  own  country 
to  spread  the  troth  about  Germany."  But  German  in- 
struction is  a  rigorous  thing,  and  therefore  General 
Friedrich  thought  it  best  to  send  it  on  its  mission  thor- 
oughly armed.  So  the  selected  prisoners  went  home 
with  plenty  of  guns  and  ammunition. 

But  the  thorough  General  went  even  further  and 
started  to  organise  an  army.  Even  the  semi-official 
Wolff  telegraph  bureau  unwittingly  added  proof  to  this 
on  February  22,  1918,  when  it  said: 

"The  foundations  of  the  Ukrainian  national  army  are 
being  laid  in  the  Kovel  district.  The  first  Ukraine 
division,  whose  officers  are  Staff  officers  and  whose  men 
are  former  prisoners  of  war,  is  already  in  training. 
Officers  and  men,  wearing  the  old  historic  uniform  of 
the  Ukrainian  Cossacks — ^long  blue  eoats  and  white-grey 
caps — make  the  best  possible  impression.  The  morale 
and  appearance  of  these  soldiers,  who  come  straight 
out  of  the  Germam,  prisoners  camps,  are  the  best  tribute 
to  the  treatment  of  prisoners  of  war  in  Germany." 

How  many  people  throughout  the  world  would  be 
duped  by  such  a  paragraph  as  this  ?  The  history  of  the 
past  shows  us  that  a  great  many  would  be.  They  would 
feel  that,  after  all,  here  is  evidence  of  good  conditions 
among  prisoners  in  Germany.  How  many  people  would 
see  that  it  was  merely  another  injection  of  German 
poison?  Comparatively  few,  but  happily  the  number 
is  growing  rapidly. 

Though  the  official  "Wolff  telegraph  bureau  keeps  the 
well-read  German  population  thoroughly  "informed" 
about  each  day's  events,  it  does  not  reach  the  greater 
part  of  the  undeveloped  Turkish  Empire.  The  German 
leaders,  however,  did  not  let  such  an  obstacle  stand  in 


196  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

the  way  of  enlightening  the  remote  masses  of  their 
Turkish  allies. 

When  the  British  withdrew  from  Gallipoli,  the  Ger- 
man military  managers  of  Turkey  organised  bands  of 
runners  to  spread  the  joyous  tidings  to  the  utmost  re- 
cesses of  Asia  Minor.  The  runners  worked  in  relays, 
aiter  the  manner  of  the  bearers  of  the  Fiery  Cross  in 
Scott's  "Lady  of  the  Lake."  After  Townsend's  sur- 
render at  Kut,  the  runners  were  again  dispatched; 
for  it  is  part  of  German  policy  to  kill  British  prestige 
throughout  Asia.  Happily,  since  the  fall  of  Kut,  these 
Turkish  marathoners  have  had  plenty  of  opportunity  to 
enjoy  a  well-earned  rest. 

Regarding  German  influence  in  Asia,  Count  Revent- 
low  says :  "An  anarchistic  India  would  be  far  more  ad- 
vantageous to  German  interests  than  an  India  which 
remains  under  British  supremacy.  A  liberated  India 
would  be  best  for  Germany  and  for  |India,  too.  But 
until  that  kind  of  an  India  can  be  established,  the  next 
best  thing  is  the  creation  and  maintenance  of  chronic 
tmrest  and  disorder." 

In  the  stirring  events  of  the  war  obscure  happen- 
ings in  Belgium  attract  but  little  attention.  The  Ger- 
mans, however,  are  working  minutely  upon  a  plan  to 
disrupt  that  already  mutilated  land  so  that,  in  case 
they  can  not  hold  it,  they  can  at  least  play  its  disrup- 
tion to  their  advantage  at  the  Peace  Conference.  Bel- 
gium and  Switzerland  have  been  two  extraordinary 
little  nations  in  the  sense  that  they  are  made  up  of  races 
which  in  the  great  countries  about  them  have  been  hos- 
tile to  one  another,  but  in  these  small  countries  have 
lived  together  amicably  and  have  developed  truly  na- 
tional aspirations. 


THE  INVISIBLE  ARMY  197 

In  Belgium  the  "Walloons  are  racially  akin  to  the 
French  and  the  Flemings  to  the  Germans;  and  Ger- 
many, with  her  highly-developed  hypocrisy,  is  seeking 
to  make  use  of  this  fact  by  encouraging  "independence'^ 
among  the  Flemings.  Once  more  the  German  weapon  of 
"learning"  has  been  brought  into  play,  and  an  ex- 
change-professor system  inaugurated.  Later  the  "Coun- 
cil of  Flanders"  was  organised,  made  up  of  over  two 
hundred  so-called  "trustworthy  delegates."  This  Coun- 
cil was  ceremoniously  received  by  von  Bethmann-Holl- 
weg,  then  Imperial  Chancellor,  who  promised,  "We 
shall  promote  the  Flemish  movement  in  every  possible 
way  at  the  moment  of  negotiations  for  peace  and  after- 
wards." 

In  March,  1917,  the  German  Government  divided 
Belgium  into  two  parts  for  administrative  purposes, 
making  Brussels  the  headquarters  of  Flanders  which 
includes  the  provinces  of  East  Flanders,  West  Flan- 
ders, Limbourg  and  Antwerp,  with  the  districts  of 
Brussels  and  Louvain;  and  making  IsTamur  the  head- 
quarters of  the  provinces  of  Luxembourg,  Liege,  Hai- 
nault,  and  l^J^ivelle.  In  general  the  people  of  the  first 
part  are  less  harshly  treated  than  those  of  the  second. 

The  rank  and  file  of  the  German  troops  are  being 
used  to  widen  the  breach  between  the  two  Belgiums. 
In  order  to  impress  the  natives,  the  soldiers  are  for- 
bidden to  speak  French,  unless  absolutely  necessary, 
and  encouraged  to  learn  and  speak  Flemish.  Imagine 
any  other  nation  going  into  such  details!  Keep  these 
things  in  mind,  however,  when  your  neighbour  tells  you 
what  a  wonderful  people  the  Germans  must  be  in  order 
to  stand  up  against  the  world. 

Early   in    1918    Germany   completed   the   arrange- 


198  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

ments  which  she  hopes  will  permit  her  to  go  to  the 
Peace  Conference  with  a  trump  Belgian  card  up  her 
sleeve,  namely,  that  Flanders  has  legally  declared  it- 
self independent  under  the  protection  of  the  German 
Empire. 

The  Germans  believe  in  doing  things  "legally," 
which  makes  it  all  the  more  necessary  that  they  be 
closely  watched  in  every  move  that  they  make.  There- 
fore they  staged  the  show  with  a  first-act  reception  to  a 
picked  delegation  from  the  picked  "Council  of  Flan- 
ders," which  was  received  with  pomp  at  Brussels  on 
January  15,  1918,  by  Herr  Walheraff,  the  German  Im- 
perial Secretary  of  State  for  the  Interior,  who  was  for- 
mer Burgomaster  of  Cologne.  A  love  feast  followed,  a 
sumptuous  banquet  at  which  food  tickets  were  not 
needed,  and  on  January  20,  1918,  Germany  could  pro- 
claim that  the  "Council  of  Flanders"  had  "solemnly 
and  unanimously  resolved  upon  the  complete  indepen- 
dence of  Flanders." 

One  might  suppose  that  the  absence  of  the  most  im- 
portant leaders  of  Belgian  life  from  a  body  of  dele- 
gates elected  at  "packed"  polling,  which  was  partici- 
pated in  by  only  a  small  minority  of  the  population  un- 
der the  auspices  of  spiked  helmets  and  bayonets,  might 
prove  a  disconcerting  omission.  But  apparently  it  does 
not  greatly  disturb  the  German  leaders  who  intend  to 
bring  to  the  Peace  Conference  their  basic  policy  of 
divide  and  destroy. 

The  war-time  measures  described  thus  far  in  this 
chapter  are  but  superstructure  reared  upon  a  founda- 
tion built  by  the  Germans  in  peace  to  enable  thera  to 
control  other  countries  by  quiet  penetration.  Their 
system  of  government,  with  its  central  control  in  the 


THE  INVISIBLE  ARMY  199 

linking  up  of  politics  with  banking,  trade,  and  pub- 
licity, enabled  them  to  erect  this  foundation,  whose 
broad  features,  as  applied  to  all  countries,  were  these : 

1.  Central  organising  in  Berlin. 

2.  Ascertaining  to  what  extent  the  average  busi- 
ness man  in  other  countries  was  ignorant  of  interna- 
tional politics,  with  the  consequent  playing  to  the  limit 
such  ignorance. 

3.  Setting  apart  a  fund  to  enable  German  chemists 
and  engineers  to  work  abroad  so  cheaply  that  they 
could  crowd  other  labour  out  of  the  market  and  thus 
learn  the  secrets  of  foreign  competitors. 

4.  By  home  methods  of  greater  manufacturing  ef- 
ficiency, longer  hours  and  lower  wages,  and  superior 
and  higher  organisation  and  preferential  transportation 
rates,  the  German  manufacturer, — having  obtained  the 
other  man's  secrets, — could  frequently  drive  him  to  the 
wall. 

5.  Investing  German  capital  with  native  capital 
abroad  and  withdrawing  it  to  put  it  in  something  else, 
after  the  undertaking  had  proved  successful.  The  man- 
agement would  usually  remain  in  German  hands,  how- 
ever. 

6.  Slipping  on  the  cloak  of  naturalisation. 

7.  The  trade  wedge  successfully  driven,  the  central 
organisation  in  Berlin,  i.e.,  the  German  Government, 
would  then  enter  politics  and  buy  up  as  much  as  pos- 
sible of  parliaments  and  the  press.  The  Germans 
found  ways  to  buy  men,  to  be  sure,  so  that  many  of  the 
purchased  never  even  suspected  that  they  had  been  for 


There  were  two  countries  in  Europe  which  became 
especially  saturated  with  Germanism  before  the  war. 


2CX)  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

0ne  of  these  was  Russia;  the  other,  Italy.  With  re- 
gard to  the  latter,  the  fortune  of  international  diplo- 
macy played  into  the  German  hands. 

In  1893  the  Italian  heir  to  the  throne  happened  to 
attend  the  German  manoeuvres  at  Metz,  an  act  which 
caused  such  resentment  in  France  that  she  liquidated 
a  billion  francs  in  Italian  securities.  This  created  a 
panic  in  Italy.  That  gave  Germany  her  golden  op- 
portunity, which  she  was  quick  to  seize.  Within  two 
years  Berlin  bankers  had  founded  what  was  destined 
quickly  to  become  Italy's  most  powerful  bank,  the 
Banco  Commerciale,  with  headquarters  at  Milan  and 
branches  throughout  Italy  and  the  world. 

The  Banco  Commerciale  was  started  in  1895  with 
a  capital  of  only  $1,000,000,  but  before  the  war  it 
had  increased  to  $31,000,000.  It  is  significant  that 
though  only  $750,000  of  the  capital  stock  remained  in 
German  hands,  the  whole  policy  of  the  Bank  was  di- 
rected from  Berlin  and  its  power  used  in  the  interests 
of  Pan-Germanism. 

The  Bank  once  established,  Germany  was  ready  to 
rear  her  influence  upon  the  foundation  whose  seven 
general  features  have  been  described  above.  The  Bank 
used  its  colossal  power  to  push  the  sales  of  German 
products  with  the  double  object  of  excluding  from  the 
[Italian  market  goods  coming  from  other  countries  and 
of  preventing  any  great  expansion  of  Italian  indus- 
tries. If  an  Italian  firm,  in  need  of  new  machinery, 
or  other  material,  should  venture  after  these  in  open 
market,  a  persuasive  "recommendation"  from  the 
Bank  would  almost  invariably  be  received,  urging  it 
to  select  a  German  product  bought  from  a  German  firm 
or  a  firm  with  German  connections.     Otherwise  the 


THE  INVISIBLE  ARMY  201 

Italian  firm  would  find  its  credit  cut  off,  and  would  be 
driven  to  ruin. 

Through  the  Bank  Berlin  tightened  its  strangle  hold 
on  the  Italian  press.  Each  corporation  controlled  by 
the  Bank  was  induced  to  subscribe  to  a  stipulated 
amount  of  stock  in  a  designated  newspaper  or  periodical 
— ^which  subscription  would,  of  course,  influence  the 
editorial  side  of  the  paper.  The  newspapers,  further- 
more, received  regular  subsidies,  generally  in  the  form 
of  advertising  contracts  and  advertisements  of  the  in- 
dustries of  their  region.  (This  method  is  similar  to 
that  increasingly  employed  by  the  Krupps  in  Germany, 
Chapter  V.) 

The  wires  were  now  laid  to  sway  Italian  ideas 
through  the  bank  which  Berlin  controlled  in  Italy  and 
which  in  turn  dominated  the  industrial  life  of  the 
country. 

From  the  press  to  politics  became  the  next  logical 
step,  and  thence  from  politics  to  things  military.  Even 
the  electric  power  plants  were  controlled  by  Germans, 
which  made  it  necessary  for  their  engineers  to  be  ad- 
mitted everywhere  even  to  the  most  closely-guarded  for- 
tifications. In  the  province  of  Venetia,  along  the  Aus- 
trian frontier,  over  97  per  cent  of  the  electric  power  was 
in  Teuton  hands. 

All  this  peaceful  penetration  was  so  unobtrusive  and 
insidious  that  most  Italians  never  realised  its  exist- 
ence. .Indeed,  the  upper  classes,  both  in  politics  and 
in  commerce,  were  educated  to  admire  Germany  and 
the  Germans. 

Thus  was  the  ground  harrowed  for  the  German  seed 
of  propaganda  during  the  war.  Politicians  in  Rome 
continued  to  play  the  petty  politics  of  party  intrigue, 


202  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

not  because  in  most  cases  they  wished  deliberately  to 
•wreck  their  country,  but  because  like  petty  politicians 
the  world  over,  as  distinguished  from  constructive 
statesmen,  they  had  devoted  their  lives  to  clique  machi- 
nations to  such  an  extent  that  they  had  no  time  thor- 
oughly to  grasp  great  national  and  international  is- 
sues. 

ir  Disaffection  at  Rome  spread  to  the  war  zone,  and 
part  of  the  army  became  affected  for  reasons  which  may 
be  grouped  under  the  following  heads: 

1.  The  Italian  statesmen  had  not  stated  clearly  to 
the  people  their  reasons  for  their  participation  in  the 
war. 

2.  The  troops  grew  stale  because  they  were  not 
moved  from  place  to  place  to  the  extent  of  some  other 
armies. 

3.  Leave  was  too  infrequent. 

4.  Rations  had  been  reduced. 

Germany  scientifically  tapped  the  Italian  line  to 
find  the  chief  points  of  dissatisfaction.  She  found  an 
important  one  on  the  Isonzo  near  Monte  l^ero,  which 
happened  to  be  highly  strategic,  whereupon  she  set  to 
work  in  her  painstaking  way.  German  and  Austrian 
officers  and  a  few  Bulgarian  officers  who  had  been  edu- 
cated in  Italy,  were  enabled,  after  fraternisation  had 
set  in,  to  pay  nightly  visits  to  the  Italian  trenches  where 
they  talked  of  the  hardships  of  war  and  the  charms  of 
peace.  "Would  it  not  be  well,"  they  suggested,  "to 
end  all  these  hardships  ?"  "It  would  only  be  necessary 
for  both  sides  to  go  home.  Then  peace  would  come 
automatically.  If  our  officers  try  to  stop  us,  we  can 
shoot  them." 

These  whisperings  prc^essed  so  favourably  that  the 


THE  INVISIBLE  ARMY  203 

visiting  officers  set  October  24,  1917,  as  the  day  for 
tlie  general  home-going.  Dawn  broke  with  the  Italians 
in  peaceful  mood,  but  the  Germans  had  massed  six 
of  their  crack  divisions  opposite  Monte  ITero,  with  the 
result  that  a  wedge  was  driven  into  the  Italian  posi- 
tions. The  reserves  behind  Monte  Nero,  based  upon 
the  town  of  Caporetto — which  gives  the  disaster  its 
name — were  ordered  to  fill  the  gap,  but  they  refused  to 
fight 

Then  the  heart-rending  realisation  of  troops  to  the 
right  and  the  left  of  the  break,  that  the  heights  which 
they  had  stormed  and  upon  which  so  many  of  their 
comrades  had  poured  out  their  blood  must  be  aban- 
doned without  firing  a  gun;  the  toil  of  months  and 
years  in  blazing  sun  and  bitter  cold,  miles  of  galleries 
blasted  through  solid  rock,  gun  positions  on  almost  in- 
accessible peaks,  newly  constructed  roads,  supplies — 
all  wiped  out  because  a  few  troops  somewhere  in  the 
line  had  trusted  in  German  talk  and  had  left  a  fatal 

gap. 

On  a  few  winding  roads  it  was  impossible  to  bring 
back  rapidly  great  armies  which  had  gone  up  slowly, 
whole  units  were  isolated  on  lofty  mountains  and  more 
units  hopelessly  choked  in  narrow  valleys,  with  no  near 
line  upon  which  to  fall.  |It  ^^as  inevitable  that  the  loss 
of  men  and  material  should  be  enormous.  Though  some 
troops  broke,  the  majority  struggled  every  step  of  the 
way  to  save  a  complete  collapse.  Of  particular  merit 
was  the  accomplishment  of  an  Italian  artillery  com- 
mander, who,  with  tenacity  and  skill,  brought  his  forty- 
three  batteries  down  two  thousand  feet  to  the  Isonzo, 
then  up  two  thousand  feet  on  the  other  side,  then  forty 
nerve-racking  miles  across  country,   with  the  enemy 


204  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

always  on  his  heels,  until  he  reached  the  swollen,  tem- 
pestuous Tagliamento  River  near  Codroipo.  Once 
across  the  river,  his  guns  would  be  reasonably  safe,  but 
as  he  reached  it,  a  dull  boom  shook  the  bank  and  a 
cloud  of  flying  debris  rose  and  splashed  back  into  the 
stream.  Some  one  had  blundered.  The  bridge  mine 
had  been"  fired  too  soon. 

On  the  line  of  the  Piave,  I  witnessed  what  was  prob- 
ably one  of  the  most  rapid  transformations  of  history. 
In  three  weeks  the  Italians  had  lost  a  third  of  their 
active  forces;  yet  the  remainder,  apparently  disorgan- 
ised, turned  at  bay  and  stubbornly  contested  every  inch 
of  the  ground.  On  the  plateau,  between  the  Brenta  and 
Piave,  they  were  like  a  football  team  inside  its  own  five- 
yard  line, — and  they  held.  The  last  half  of  JsTovember 
and  December  passed  with  the  enemy  unable  to  make 
further  gains.  So,  guns  failing,  he  switched  once  more 
to  the  smile  that  lures  to  ruin. 

On  Christmas  morning,  just  before  dawn,  I  went 
through  the  communicating  trenches  to  the  front  line 
near  Zenson.  The  light  had  only  broken  when  the 
enemy  began  the  day  in  a  most  cordial  manner.  He 
had  almost  wrecked  Italy  two  months  before  by  an  ex- 
cessive cordiality,  and  apparently  he  is  no  believer  in 
Abraham  Lincoln's  philosophy  on  "fooling  all  of  the 
people  all  of  the  time."  So  he  hoisted  a  large  placard 
on  which  was  printed : 

MERRY  CHRISTMAS! 
LET  US  BE  BROTHERS! 

Recent  history  was  sufficiently  painful  in  the  minds 
of  the  Italians,  however,  to  prevent  them  reciprocating 


^ 


THE  INVISIBLE  ARMY  205 

in  kind.  On  the  other  hand,  they  did  no  firing,  and 
the  day  settled  down  to  a  stillness  suggesting  that  of  a 
New  England  village  on  the  Sabbath.  Apparently 
Christmas  is  Christmas,  and  both  sides  seemed  to  en- 
joy a  day  off  from  being  killed. 

The  Austrians,  however,  were  fairly  bubbling  with 
friendliness — according  to  plan.  Persistent,  they 
openly  suggested  fraternisation  and  even  went  to  the 
extent  of  announcing  by  placard  that  the  Russians  had 
thrown  off  the  chains  of  their  rulers  and  had  gone  home 
happy.  The  moral  which  the  Italians  were  expected 
to  draw  is,  of  course,  obvious. 

About  half-past  three,  two  Italian  oflScers  came  into 
the  trench  and  expressed  their  opinion  that  the  Aus- 
trians would,  under  no  circumstances,  start  fighting, 
inasmuch  as  they  clearly  intended  to  use  Christmas 
as  the  ideal  day  to  start  another  "friendliness"  offen- 
sive. To  support  this  opinion,  one  of  them  stood  on  the 
firing  step  and  put  his  head  over  the  parapet  for  a  look 
at  the  river  scenery  just  below  us.  "We  would  not  do 
this  yesterday,"  the  first  explained,  "nor  would  we  do 
it  to-morrow.    But  to-day  is  perfectly  safe." 

I  did  not  share  their  baby  blue-eyed  faith,  but  of 
course  it  was  up  to  me  to  join  them.  We  were  within 
easy  range,  as  the  river  here  was  only  about  a  hundred 
yards  wide.  But  the  enemy  would  not  even  snipe  that 
day.  So  we  stepped  back  safely  into  the  trench,  which 
had  taken  on  a  somewhat  careless  attitude. 

At  half-past  four  the  curtain  was  rung  up  on  an 
entirely  different  act,  without  even  a  placard  to  an- 
nounce the  change  of  bill.  The  opposite  bank  shook 
with  electrifying  suddenness;  trench  mortars  and  all 
calibres  up  to  the  nine-inch  belched  all  along  the  line. 


2o6  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Some  of  us  escaped  into  dugouts,  while  the  trenches 
above  were  torn  and  shattered  on  every  side.  The  Ital- 
ians who  but  a  few  minutes  before  had  been  lulled  into 
dreams  of  home  under  the  belief  that  Christmas  would 
pass  peacefully,  were  tricked  once  more  and  went  down 
to  death  to  mingle  in  many  cases  their  shredded  flesh 
with  the  blood-soaked  muck  below  the  duck-boards. 

Once  again  I  had  been  brought  face  to  face  with 
the  hard  cold  fact  that  to  accept  the  hand  held  out  by 
the  HohenzoUems  and  the  Hapsburgs  is  not  chivalry 
but  suicide. 

While  in  Germany  I  poignantly  realised  that  the 
poison  which  was  sapping  Italy  and  Russia,  was  being 
injected  a  hundred-fold  into  the  life-blood  of  the  United 
States  ...  a  realisation  which  kept  me  awake  many 
an  hour  at  night.  I  was  well  aware  that  the  over- 
whelming majority  of  my  countrymen  had  never  inter- 
ested themselves  in  European  affairs,  were  remote  from 
the  conflict,  and  were  ever  ready  to  welcome  the  stranger 
and  believe  in  him. 

Most  people's  lives  are  pretty  much  occupied  with 
the  routine  of  making  a  living,  so  that  the  farmer  or 
manufacturer,  storekeeper  or  office  assistant,  busy  with 
his  daily  tasks  in  Turner's  Palls,  Omaha  or  New  York, 
must  inevitably  form  most  of  his  opinions  from  what  he 
reads.  Consequently,  if  the  German  Government  han- 
dles visiting  press  representatives  in  a  way  to  put  them 
in  a  mood  to  see  what  is  shown  and  to  let  alone  what 
is  out  of  sight,  it  can,  through  them,  influence  Tur- 
ner's Falls,  Omaha  and  New  York.  In  short,  if  it 
could  keep  us  chloroformed  while  it  was  winning  in 


THE  INVISIBLE  ARMY  207 

Europe,  it  could  then  comfortably  turn  its  attention  to 
the  western  hemisphere. 

It  was  common  knowledge  in  some  circles  in  Berlin 
that  the  correspondent  of  a  leading  American  news- 
paper used  to  express  the  ardent  hope  that  he  might 
earn  a  German  war  decoration.  Another  war  corre- 
spondent admitted  that  he  hoped  to  settle  down  in  Ber- 
lin after  the  war,  and  that  if  his  war-reporting  was  sat- 
isfactory to  the  Wilhelmstrasse,  he  would  probably  be 
on  the  inside  for  big  scoops  later  in  peace.  That  was 
all  very  well  for  these  men  personally.  But  was  the 
plain  American  citizen  back  in  Turner's  Falls,  Omaha 
and  Xew  York  getting  a  square  deal  ? 

After  ^  had  become  thoroughly  convinced  of  the 
Imperial  Government's  moral  dereliction  in  the  world 
of  to-day,  and  of  her  menace  to  the  future  of  my  own 
country,  I  resolved  to  act  and  told  Ambassador  Gerard 
of  my  resolution.  That  is  why,  after  I  had  managed  to 
get  out  of  Germany,  I  deliberately  wrote  an  article  in 
the  London  Times,  for  wide  syndication  in  American 
newspapers,  in  which  I  gave  details  of  how  American 
correspondents  were  shackled  in  Berlin.  I  expected 
the  article  to  create  a  sensation.  It  certainly  did.  I 
showed  it  to  an  American  journalistic  friend  in  Lon- 
don before  it  went  to  press.  "It's  hot  stuff,"  he  ad- 
mitted, "and  very  much  needed.  But  J  wouldn't  sign 
my  name  to  it  for  $50,000.  You  will  find  yourself 
heavily  attacked  by  the  men  you  mention — men  who 
will  be  backed  by  gigantic  influence." 

The  highly-organised  attack  which  soon  developed, 
was  directed  from  Berlin  by  William  Bayard  Hale, 
German-America's  super-Ambassador  to  the  German 
court,  and  apologist-in-chief  for  the  Fatherland  in  the 


2o8  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

United  States.  Incidentally,  Hale  is  the  man  who 
wrote  Demberg's  justification  of  the  sinking  of  the 
Lusitania,  as  revealed  in  Federal  investigations  of  the 
Kaiser's  purchase  of  the  !N"ew  York  Evening  Mcuil. 
Working  with  him  on  the  one  hand,  were  the  "spoon- 
fed" among  the  correspondents;  on  the  other,  the  Im- 
perial Government  with  all  its  wireless  and  all  its  re- 
sources ;  while  co-operating  with  all  these  were  the  three 
American  newspaper  men  in  London  who  represented 
the  same  papers  represented  in  Berlin  by  the  men  to 
whom  I  had  devoted  special  attention.  The  customary 
method  of  attempting  to  discredit  the  accuser  was 
widely  resorted  to — the  same  method  now  being  em- 
ployed in  Germany  against  Prince  Lichnowsky  and 
Herr  Miihlon.  The  idea  of  having  some  of  the  cabled 
fiction  pertaining  to  me  bear  the  London  label  at  the 
top  of  the  column  was  rather  clever.  My  peculiar  ad- 
vantage in  the  fight,  however,  is  that  I  dealt  only  in 
facts — and  time  is  the  ally  of  facts. 

I  regret  to  introduce  matters  so  personal  to  myself, 
but  I  do  so  because  they  are  illuminative  of  funda- 
mentals. The  war  will  be  won  or  lost  through  the  ideas 
of  the  peoples  and  not  by  mere  commands  of  sovereigns. 
Actions  spring  from  ideas.  That  is  why  publicity  that 
shapes  opinion  is  so  powerful  that  within  the  next  few 
years  it  can  fashion  the  future  of  mankind. 

There  is  a  multitude  of  recent  evidence  to  show  that 
it  is  German  intention  not  to  diminish  propaganda  but 
to  increase  it.  A  combination  of  some  hundreds  of  the 
most  important  Hamburg  firms  presented  a  programme 
to  the  Imperial  Chancellor  in  June,  1918,  which  shows 
liie  part  to  be  played  by  the  influencing  of  public 
opinion  abroad  in  their  effort  to  recoup  their  fallen  for- 


THE  INVISIBLE  ARMY  209 

tunes.  After  proposing  a  more  intensive  organisation 
of  the  diplomatic  and  consular  service  the  programme 
continues : 

"A  reformation  of  our  foreign  service  is  useless  un- 
less there  is  also  a  change  of  our  foreign  policy.  It  must 
correspond  with  Germany's  position  as  a  world-power, 
and  ahove  all  things  it  must  assume  and  guarantee  the 
protection  of  Germans  abroad  and  their  rights.  The 
proper  consideration  must  be  given  to  the  influencing 
of  public  opinion  abroad. 

"The  diplomatist  must  above  all  cultivate  good  rela- 
tions with  the  Press  of  the  country  in  which  he  resides. 
The  Empire  must  grant  him  adequate  credits  for  ful- 
filling his  tasks. 

"It  is  the  business  of  the  ifTews  Department  to  conduct 
the  propaganda  service  in  foreign  countries  in  German 
economic  and  political  interests.  Its  main  task  is  to  be 
in  touch  with  the  Press  at  home  and  abroad.  For  for- 
eign countries  official  and  special  organisations  must  be 
created  for  this  purpose,  and  will  work  in  the  service 
of  a  German  official  telegraph  bureau.  This  bureau 
should  be  based  as  far  as  possible  upon  a  German  cable 
system  or  wireless  service.  The  N^ews  Department  will 
be  advised  about  German  economic  propaganda  in  for- 
eign countries  by  a  committee  of  prominent  German 
traders  abroad." 

Happily  there  are  high  barriers  in  the  way  of  Ger- 
man control  of  American  public  opinion  through  the 
Press.  In  the  first  place,  the  vast  majority  of  Amer- 
ican newspaper  owners  and  editors  can  not  be  bought 
by  all  the  money  that  the  Kaiser  can  scrape  together; 
and  secondly,  the  war  has  revealed  German  methods 
enough  to  put  us  on  our  guard  in  the  future. 


210  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

I  confess  that  I  have  been  surprised  upon  coming 
home  to  find  the  tide  rising  so  high  against  German- 
ism. When  I  was  in  St.  Paul,  for  example,  I  learned 
that  School  Commissioner  Albert  Wunderlich  an- 
nounced his  intention  "to  weed  out  of  the  school  system 
every  pro-German  sympathiser  among  the  teaching 
force."  Indeed  the  commissioner,  whose  name  would 
suggest  at  least  partial  German  origin,  began  imme- 
diately to  carry  out  his  commendable  policy.  He  also 
announced  that  no  German  would  be  taught  at  the  St. 
Paul  public  schools  next  year,  and  this  is  a  section 
of  our  country  which  I  used  to  be  told  in  Germany 
was  safe  ( 

The  question  of  the  elimination  of  German  from  our 
schools  is  a  debatable  one.  Properly  supervised,  the 
teaching  of  it  as  a  foreign  language  ought  not  to  be  a 
danger.  To  do  away  with  the  language  and  the  orig- 
inal study  of  Goethe,  Schiller,  Lessing,  Heine,  Ger- 
stacker  and  Storm,  seemed  to  me  at  first  like  swinging 
the  pendulum  too  far.  But  we  are  at  war,  and  we  are 
only  beginning  to  have  brought  home  to  us  the  awful- 
ness  of  what  war  means.  It  is  criminal  not  to  take 
full  measures  to  protect  the  men  who  are  risking  their 
lives  and  their  health.  If  we  do  not  truly  mean  busi- 
ness we  have  no  ethical  right  to  send  a  single  soldier  to 
meet  his  death. 

It  is  regrettably  true  that  things  essentially  good  may 
be  used  to  accomplish  evil.  German  music  is  stimulat- 
ing, and  the  group-singing  of  folk-songs  J  myself  have 
found  exceedingly  enjoyable.  But  when  the  passions 
aroused  by  music  are  deliberately  used  to  weld  Amer- 
icans of  German  origin  to  the  machine  of  foreign  mili- 


THE  INVISIBLE  ARMY  211 

tarism,  we  must  in  self  defence  call  a  halt.  Likewise, 
the  language  of  good  German  literature  is  also  the 
language  of  William  II,  Ludendorff  and  Tirpitz — the 
spearhead  with  which  they  would  divide  America.. 
Such  being  the  case,  it  is  our  duty  to  tear  this  spear- 
head from  their  hands.  A  general  purging  for  a  few 
years  ought  to  be  beneficial.  After  we  smash  Prussian- 
ism,  we  can  safely  restore  the  study  of  German  to  our 
curriculum. 

On  this  subject  the  Cologne  Gazette  contained  an  il- 
luminating article.  Shortly  after  we  declared  war  it 
said: 

"A  constant  work  of  political  illumination  must  be 
carried  on  by  us  in  the  United  States.  Every  American 
who  is  convinced  that  Germany  is  conducting  a  de- 
fensive war,  is  lost  to  the  cause  of  the  Entente. 

"In  all  this  work,  our  best  allies  will  continue  to  be 
the  German-Americans  whose  services  to  the  German 
cause  can  be  underestimated  only  by  crass  ignorance  of 
American  conditions — ignorance  which,  indeed,  is  no 
rarity  in  many  German  circles.  Good  Americans  as,  of 
course,  they  are  (reader  will  kindly  note  the  ambiguity 
which  I  have  italicised),  they  have  hitherto  pursued  no 
separatist  policy.  Accordingly  they  do  not  constitute 
any  self-contained  group  in  the  political  life  of  the 
union.  All  the  greater,  however,  is  consequently  their 
indirect  influence  because  all  classes,  all  professions,  all 
political  and  other  circles  are  leavened  in  strongest 
measure  with  German- Americans. 

"The  German- Americans  constitute  a  sounding  board 
for  German  propaganda  such  as  exists  in  no  other  enemy 
country,  and  they  introduce  into  American  feeling  a 
factor  of  prudence  and  reserve  which  often  already  has 
been  a  matter  of  despair  for  Herr  Wilson  and  his  Eng- 


212  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

lish  friends.     We  can  be  certain  that  now  also,  they 
will  be  at  their  posts." 

Looking  more  to  the  future,  the  "League  for  German- 
ism in  Foreign  Countries"  says  in  its  1918  annual 
report : 

"We  have  regarded  it  as  our  duty  to  collect  money 
for  the  time  after  the  war,  in  order  then  to  be  in  a  posi- 
tion to  employ  adequate  resources.  After  the  peace  we 
shall  strive  everywhere  to  improve  our  existing  over- 
sea schools,  and  to  give  the  Germans  abroad  such  a 
course  of  education  that,  as  far  as  possible,  they  will  be 
superior  to  all  other  peoples.  Our  work  must  be  com- 
pleted by  the  despatch  of  good  propaganda  literature  and 
a  news  service.  Only  by  the  employment  of  large  re- 
sources can  thorough  work  be  accomplished ;  small  funds 
are  for  the  most  part  uselessly  squandered. 

"We  should  like  to  insist  that  South  America,  the 
main  field  of  our  activity  for  many  years  past,  consti- 
tutes a  great  sphere.  Wide  areas,  with  great  possibili- 
ties of  development,  but  little  cultivated  hitherto,  are 
waiting  to  be  opened  up.  It  must  be  our  business  to 
employ  here  all  our  strength  in  order  to  retain  and  to 
make  useful  to  ourselves  these  countries  with  their 
markets  and  raw  materials.  What  we  have  to  do  is  to 
arm  for  the  peace  and  to  collect  money,  in  order  to  be 
able  immediately  to  act  with  energy — ^with  our  whole 
strength  and  with  sufficient  resources." 

An  enterprising  Hamburg  concern,  Paustian  Broth- 
ers, began  publishing  English  and  French  periodicals 
in  1918  entitled,  respectively.  Little  Puck  and  Le  Petit 
Parisien  which  are  designed  to  help  teach  the  English 
and  French  languages  for  after-the-war-trade  purposes. 
An  advertisement  of  the  papers  reads : 


THE  INVISIBLE  ARMY  213 

'^During  the  war  England  has  for  the  most  part 
paralysed  German  export  trade.  We  shall  and  must 
recover  what  we  have  lost.  To  that  end  a  knowledge 
of  foreign  languages  is  indispensable.  Those  who  have 
an  elementary  knowledge  of  English  or  French  should 
therefore  not  let  it  grow  rusty,  but  subscribe  to  our 
journals.  They  are  edited  so  as  to  give  the  quickest 
and  most  practical  instruction.  Civilians  as  well  as 
soldiers  and  sailors  at  the  front  should  take  them.  They 
specialise  in  trade  idioms  and  everything  else  of  value 
to  our  future  export  industry." 

There  is,  indeed,  official  sanction  for  the  Germans 
whose  activities  in  Allied  countries  have  been  so  rudely 
interrupted  by  the  war.  In  May,  1918,  the  Kaiser 
himself  held  out  a  "message  of  hope  to  all  foreign 
Germans  driven  out  of  enemy  countries."  To  thou- 
sands of  these  "foreign  Germans"  he  has  sent  his  photo- 
graph, accompanied  by  the  following  statement: 

"A  stronger  German  Empire  and  a  more  intelligent 
German  nation  will  look  after  our  foreign  German 
brothers  after  this  victorious  war,  when  they  resume 
their  life  in  hives  of  German  industry  and  intellectual 
pursuits.  God  bless  every  German  home  which  remains 
true  to  and  proud  of  its  German  characteristics !  God 
advance  every  man  who  does  honour  to  his  German 
name  1  God  protect  German  mothers  who  in  silence  but 
steadfastness  bring  up  coming  generations  in  the  spirit 
of  the  German  fathers,  and  God  bless  each  and  all  of 
us  who  remain  faithful  to  the  future  and  gTeatness  of 
the  German  national  brotherhood!  In  unity  there  is 
strength !" 

Probably  in  connection  with  the  former  activities  of 
these  "foreign  Germans"  after  the  war,  the  new  German 


214  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Foreign  Museum  of  Stuttgart  is  gathering  a  great 
archive  of  information  about  their  experiences.  All 
such  Germans  and  their  relatives  are  being  publicly 
requested  to  send  the  Museum  every  scrap  of  informa- 
tion of  the  experiences  undergone  by  the  "foreign  Ger- 
mans" both  at  the  outbreak  of  and  during  the  war. 
How  they  succeeded  in  getting  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
enemy  and  getting  home,  is  a  point  on  which  the  fullest 
information  is  desired.  "No  details  should  be  consid- 
ered too  insignificant,"  says  the  appeal. 

That  all  of  Berlin's  efforts  to  unite  Germans  and 
disrupt  us  have  not  been  confined  to  the  intellectual  side, 
we  have  had  only  too  much  evidence  in  the  work  of 
Count  Bernstorff,  Captain  von  Papen,  Captain  Boy-Ed, 
Captain  Franz  von  Kintelen  and  their  hired  bands  of 
dynamiters  and  assassins. 

I  came  upon  a  peculiar  case  in  June,  1918,  when  I 
stopped  off  at  one  of  our  biggest  munition  centres  on 
my  way  East  from  Chicago.  After  midnight  the  naval 
officer,  who  was  my  host,  began  to  tell  me  of  some 
enemy  interference  with  artillery  manufacture  in  a 
plant  some  eighteen  miles  away. 

"But  that  was  some  time  ago,  wasn't  iti"  I  asked. 
"Such  business  is  pretty  well  checked  now,  isn't  it?" 

"It  happened  only  yesterday,"  he  said  with  warmth. 
"If  you  care  to  stay  over  to-morrow,  I'll  show  you  what 
they  did." 

I  told  him  that  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  catch  the 
10 :30  train  in  the  morning. 

"All  right,"  he  said.  "If  you  care  to  miss  your 
sleep,  I'll  take  you  to  the  plant  early  and  let  you  see 
for  yourself." 

I  never  believe  in  letting  sleep  interfere  with  sucli 


THE  INVISIBLE  ARMY  215 

opportunities,  so  I  was  on  hand  with  him  in  the  morn- 
ing in  a  mammoth  building,  filled  with  great  guns, 
slowly  revolving  on  the  lathes  which  bored  their  bar- 
rels. 

My  friend  took  me  aside  and  showed  me  a  stack  of 
metal  discs.  "These  must  fit  the  gun  breaches  per- 
fectly," he  said,  "for  they  are  part  of  the  mechanism 
to  prevent  the  gases  coming  back.  Somebody  through 
whose  hands  they  were  passed  has  quickly  nicked 
each  one  with  a  hammer.  That  means  that  the  guns 
must  wait  until  another  set  can  be  made  which,  because 
of  the  minute  accuracy  of  the  work,  will  take  consider- 
able time." 

He  then  conducted  me  to  one  of  the  powerful  engines 
that  run  the  lathes.  "This  is  in  the  usual  condition 
of  most  of  the  new  ones  that  are  coming  in,"  he  said. 
"Some  enemy  agent  contrives  to  put  emery  into  the 
bearings.  If  we  run  them  for  a  week  that  way,  they 
are  out  of  commission.  This  means  that  we  have  got 
to  stop,  take  them  apart,  and  clean  them  before  we  even 
use  them.    All  this  delay  helps  the  enemy." 

My  mind  went  back  to  Essen  and  the  volcanic  activ- 
ity I  had  witnessed  there;  of  German  workmen  toiling 
in  shifts  incessantly  to  turn  out  guns  and  shells  to  rend 
limb  from  limb  the  soldiers  of  the  Allies,  our  American 
lads  among  them.  Yet  here,  in  my  own  country,  after 
more  than  a  year  of  our  participation  in  the  war,  I  had 
seen  evidence  of  the  work  which  does  not  give  the  boys 
from  home  a  fair  chance  in  battles  of  machinery. 

All  that  day,  as  I  rode  in  the  train,  a  picture  for 
which  I  yearned  kept  recurring — a  picture  with  a  blank 
wall  in  the  background.  Yet,  despite  this  feeling 
against  the  agents  who  work  to  make  our  soldiers  fight 


2i6  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

with  one  hand  tied  behind  their  backs,  J  am  in  hearty 
support  of  President  Wilson's  plea  that  there  be  no  mob 
violence  among  us.  That  would  not  help  us  win  the 
war  but  would  be  turned  as  a  weapon  against  us.  We 
should  always  act  according  to  justice  and  law.  Jus- 
tice, however,  embodies  all  possible  protection  to  the 
men  who  are  risking  everything  on  the  other  side.  And 
when  we  prove  anybody  among  us  guilty  of  deliber- 
ately aiding  Germany,  that  person  should  be  legally 
dealt  with  to  the  limit,  and  the  news  published  broad- 
cast as  a  deterrent  to  his  co-workers. 


CHAPTER  IX 

OrE    PEISOlSrEE    EXTEAOEDIIirAEY 

THE  air  was  filled  with  the  softness  of  the  English 
spring,  as  I  sat  in  my  Mayfair  apartments  over- 
looking Piccadilly  and  the  park.  The  evening  papers 
which  had  just  come  in  were  full  of  the  great  German 
retreat  to  the  Hindenburg  line,  with  stress  laid  upon 
Haig's  mechanical  problem  of  following  up  with  all  the 
machinery  of  his  army. 

Modern  war  is  largely  machinery,  but  not  all.  Gaz- 
ing out  across  the  park,  I  reflected  that  every  day  ro- 
mance and  adventure  behind  the  scenes  equal  anything 
to  be  found  in  literature.  I  was  just  then  interested 
in  the  attempt  of  an  Irish  officer  to  escape  from  Ger- 
many. Some  time  the  world  may  be  privileged  to  read 
the  details  of  a  band  of  men  who  built  up  a  system 
and  took  risks  that  vie  with  those  of  the  "Scarlet  Pim- 
pernell"  in  the  days  when  the  women  of  Paris  knitted 
in  rhythm  with  the  guillotine. 

There  was  a  knock  on  the  door,  and  the  man  whom 
I  was  expecting  entered,  closing  it  gently  behind  him. 
He  was  young,  of  wiry  build,  and  of  uncertain  nation- 
ality. 

"Tou  are  requested  to  advise  me  about  getting  into 
Germany,"  he  said  quietly. 

Germany,  perhaps  later.  It  might  be  better  if  this 
man,  with  his  special  qualifications,  first  looked  into 

217 


2i8  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

some  German  affairs  in  South.  America  which  were  di- 
rected against  all  the  Allies,  but  chiefly  against  the 
United  States,  the  latter  having  already  broken  with 
"Germany  and  was  on  the  verge  of  entering  the  war. 

One  of  the  many  lessons  that  I  have  learned  from 
the  struggle  and  my  own  participation  in  it,  is  the 
value  of  preliminary  preparation  for  any  task  to  be  un- 
dertaken. I  therefore  started  him  on  a  three  weeks' 
course  of  instruction,  but  rushed  matters  at  the  close 
of  the  second,  when  I  got  an  inkling  that  one  of  the 
most  important  German  prisoners  in  England  was  to  be 
transferred  to  the  United  States. 

"Go  to  South  America  by  way  of  ITew  York,"  I 
said.  "He  will  be  on  the  Adriatic.  Get  in  touch  with 
him  and  see  if  you  can  get  on  to  the  inside  of  his 
game." 

That  was  in  April,  1917.  I  next  saw  him  in  late 
September,  when  I  got  his  signed  report.  He  had 
done  all  that  I  expected — and  more. 

My  man,  whom  I  shall  call  Jules,  soon  perceived 
when  aboard  ship  that  some  secrets  are  not  closely  kept  j 
for  there  were  vague  rumours  that  a  German  spy  was 
being  transported  to  the  United  States  for  trial.  "No- 
body  could  locate  him,  however,  and  interest  in  the 
matter  soon  died.  N^ot  so  with  Jules.  He  knew  his 
Germany  and  the  German  officers,  and  on  the  fourth' 
day  was  sure  of  his  man,  whose  manner  of  walking  on 
deck,  particularly  the  heel-click  when  he  stood  aside 
bowing  to  let  a  lady  pass,  showed  unmistakably  to  the 
practised  eye  the  mechanism  inherent  in  the  German 
officer. 

On  the  fifth  day  after  breakfast,  while  making  a  turn 
on  the  boat-deck,  Jules  came  upon  his  suspect  quite 


OUR  PRISONER  EXTRAORDINARY    219 

alone.  Attempts  at  conversation  made  little  headway, 
however,  beyond  corroborating  the  fact  that  the  stran- 
ger's excellent  English  betrayed  a  slight  German  ac- 
cent. 

Persistency,  however,  is  one  of  Jnles's  most  developed 
traits.  After  remarks  about  the  weather,  the  passen- 
gers and  the  ship  had  drawn  out  only  reluctant  replies 
accompanied  by  furtive  glances  which  betrayed  the 
stranger's  fear  of  being  seen  talking,  Jules  gradually 
switched  the  conversation  to  a  comparison  of  vessels 
in  peace  time.  He  very  reservedly  favoured  the  Korth 
Grerman  Lloyd,  explaining  that,  of  course,  as  a  neutral, 
he  did  not  want  to  praise  anything  of  the  enemy  of  the 
country  under  whose  flag  he  was  sailing. 

"But  I  thought  you  were  English,"  said  the  stranger. 

"Oh,  no !  I  have  lived  a  long  time  in  England ;  but 
am  a  South  American.  I  have  also  been  much  in  Ger- 
many." 

At  this  the  stranger  showed  decided  interest,  and  be- 
gan to  question  Jules  with  great  ability  to  see  how  much 
he  knew  about  the  Fatherland.  My  man  began  to  an- 
swer him  apparently  with  great  care,  but  suddenly 
seemed  to  forget  himself,  as  the  conversation  grew  more 
lively,  with  the  exclamation,  "Well,  you  know  it  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at  if  I  do  favour  the  I^orth  German 
Lloyd,  considering  that  my  cousins  hold  heavy  interests 
in  it" 

The  stranger  was  surprised  and  delighted  when  Jules 
named  the  "cousins"  with  the  correct  German  accent. 
He  was  still  further  delighted  when  Jules  went  on  to 
explain  that  his  country,  particularly  higher  up,  was 
intensely  pro-German  and  that  as  a  man  who  knew  both 


220   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Germany  and  England  he  hoped  to  be  useful  for  prop- 
aganda service  helpful  to  the  former. 

At  this  the  stranger  threw  off  all  reserve,  and,  after 
a  quick  look  up  and  down  the  deck  to  see  that  nobody 
was  in  sight,  he  told  Jules,  with  suppressed  excitement, 
that  they  could  work  together  and  be  of  great  service 
to  one  another.  He  took  a  piece  of  paper  from  his 
pocket,  scribbled  briefly  upon  it,  held  it  so  that  Jules 
could  read,  then  tore  it  up  and  threw  it  to  the  winds. 

Only  a  name  had  been  written  on  the  card — ^but  a 
magic  name  that  thrilled  the  man  who  read  it.  The 
name  was: 

CAPTAIN  FRANZ  VON  RINTELEN 

Von  Rintelen  explained  that  he  was  granted  most  of 
the  privileges  of  a  passenger  by  giving  his  word  of 
honour  to  the  Scotland  Yard  man  in  charge  of  him  that 
he  would  avoid  conversation  and  would  not  mention 
his  name  to  any  one.  "So  that  is  why  I  wrote  it," 
said  the  German  naval  officer,  with  a  laugh. 

He  was  especially  indignant  that  he  had  been  locked 
in  his  cabin  during  the  first  three  days,  and  heaped 
abuse  upon  the  British  Government  for  exposing  him 
thus  to  the  dangers  of  the  war  zone,  saying  that  it  was 
a  violation  of  international  law.  "Why,  in  case  of  at- 
tack," he  added,  "I  should  have  been  drowned  like  a 
rat  in  a  trap." 

Shades  of  the  Lusitania,  the  Arabia,  the  Falaba,  the 
Sussex!  The  little  fishing  vessels,  the  hospital  ships 
with  their  helpless  wounded,  and  the  men  shelled  in 
open  boats!  Von  Rintelen's  bump  of  humour  must 
certainly  be  a  cavity. 


OUR  PRISONER  EXTRAORDINARY     221 

Von  Rintelen  was  so  keen  to  make  use  of  my  man 
that  lie  mapped  out  a  course  of  future  meetings.  1. 
After  dinner,  every  evening  they  would  meet  at  eight 
at  the  end  of  the  second  deck  where  it  was  pitch  dark 
and  always  empty.  2.  When  the  man  who  had  trusted 
Rintelen  on  his  word  of  honour,  played  chess  in  the 
smoking-room — a  most  absorbing  game — they  would 
meet  in  the  reading  room  if  it  were  empty.  3.  They 
would,  at  certain  hours,  varied  each  day,  walk  on  cer- 
tain decks,  also  varied  each  day.  At  such  times  as 
they  were  not  observed,  they  could  communicate. 

I^ext  morning  a  rough  wind  cleared  the  starboard 
promenade  deck  to  the  convenience  of  the  two  men.  In 
the  early  part  of  their  long  conversation,  von  Rintelen 
was  at  pains  to  emphasise  his  importance  and  family 
connections — something  quite  unnecessary  for  the  well- 
informed  Jules.  He  dwelt  bitterly  upon  what  he  con- 
sidered unfair  treatment,  that  he  had  been  captured 
by  the  British  when  on  his  way  from  America  to  Ger- 
many, travelling  on  a  false  passport.  Much  as  he  dis- 
liked being  a  prisoner  in  England,  he  relished  even  less 
the  prospect  of  going  to  iJsTew  York  to  stand  trial  for 
complicity  in  bomb-plotting.  Donnington  Hall  had  at 
any  rate  been  a  most  comfortable  prison,  with  the  added 
convenience  that  he  could  communicate  more  or  less  reg- 
ularly with  the  Deutsche  Bank  through  Holland. 

He  explained  his  high  position  in  the  Bank  and  his 
alliance  with  Krupp's  through  the  fact  that  his  father- 
in-law,  Herr  von  Kaufmann,  was  the  man  who  arranged 
all  the  details  of  the  German-Bulgarian  alliance  and 
was  at  the  head  of  the  whole  Krupp  organisation  in 
Bulgaria.     He  is  also  related  to  Count  Hecht,  one  of 


222   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

the  great  agrarian  leaders  of  the  Conservative  party 
in  the  Reichstag. 

Before  the  bugle  for  lunch  had  blown,  Rintelen  be- 
came so  thrilled  in  the  anticipation  of  using  my  man 
that  he  again  and  again  assured  him  that  if  he  would 
carry  out  his  instructions  he  would  give  him  carte 
hlanche  any  time  he  wished  to  go  to  Germany  whether 
in  war  or  peace. 

*^What  are  the  details  of  the  work  you  wish  me  to 
do?"  Jules  asked. 

"They  are  many,"  said  von  Rintelen,  quickly. 
"First  I  would  impress  upon  you  to  remember  accu- 
rately a  certain  code  signal  that  must  reach  the  Admi- 
ralty.    That  code " 

He  was  interrupted  with  a  laugh  up  the  deck.  Two 
passengers  apparently  out  to  make  the  round  as  an  ap- 
petiser for  lunch,  had  lurched  against  the  rail  when 
the  ship  rolled  in  the  trough  of  the  wind-blown  sea. 
They  were  so  occupied  with  their  own  affairs  that  they 
failed  to  notice  the  two  men.  Even  had  they  done  so, 
they  would  probably  have  attached  no  significance  to 
their  being  together.  But  the  German  naval  captain, 
taking  no  chances,  strolled  on  alone. 

Jules  camped  in  the  reading-room  during  the  after- 
noon as  agreed,  but  the  hours  wore  on  to  tea-time  and 
from  tea-time  to  dinner  with  no  sign  of  von  Rintelen. 

"It  will  be  hard  luck,"  he  reflected,  "if  he  is  locked 
up  or  has  thought  better  of  the  matter  and  will  not 
give  me  his  instructions — and  I  was  just  going  to  get 
them,  too." 

Dinner  over,  Jules  took  up  his  stand  in  the  pitch 
dark  of  the  second  deck.  He  had  not  long  to  wait.  A 
shadowy  figure  passed  close  to  him,  but  he  could  not  be 


OUR  PRISONER  EXTRAORDINARY     223 

sure  in  the  dark  that  it  was  his  man.  He  remembered 
that  they  had  not  agreed  upon  a  signal  for  this  emer- 
gency, but  met  the  situation  by  softly  whistling  a  line 
of  Die  Lorelei,  The  response  showed  the  figure  was 
von  Rintelen. 

"One  good  thing,"  began  the  latter,  "is  that  no  one 
will  come  looking  for  me  with  a  torch.  I  notice  that 
these  dogs  are  taking  every  precaution  against  our 
U-boats,  and  there  are  strict  regulations  against  any 
lights  on  deck  from  sunset  to  sunrise." 

Jules  intended  to  remind  him  of  the  code  message, 
but  such  intention  proved  entirely  unnecessary  inas- 
much as  it  was  the  first  thing  uppermost  in  his  com- 
panion's mind. 

"First  of  all,  ,1  would  remind  you  to  fix  in  your  mind 
the  phrase,  RINTELEN  MELDET.  Later  I  will  tell 
you  how  to  get  it  to  Germany.  A  German  officer,  es- 
pecially a  naval  officer,  never  forgets  that  wherever  he 
is,  his  first  duty  is  to  his  Kaiser  and  his  Fatherland. 
That  duty  transcends  and  nullifies  everything  else.  It 
is,  moreover,  the  duty  of  every  diplomatic  and  consular 
officer,  wherever  stationed,  to  work  incessantly  ferret- 
ting  out  secrets,  and  always  bearing  in  mind  that  even 
though  the  country  in  which  he  may  find  himself  may 
not  have  at  the  time  the  status  of  an  enemy  it  must  al- 
ways be  considered  a  potential  enemy." 

A  frank  admission  out  there  in  the  dark,  with  the 
wind  howling  and  the  sea  foaming  white  against  the 
hull,  of  the  policy  of  modern  Germany  to  go  among  the 
nations  as  the  wolf  in  the  fleece  of  the  lamb. 

"You  have  German  blood  in  your  veins,  and  you 
must  be  one  of  us  in  our  war  against  the  Anglo-Saxon 
powers    of    England    and    America,"    von    Rintelen 


224  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

breathed  warmly,  in  his  best  Tirpitzian  manner. 
"America  has  now  joined  actively  in  the  war.  If  we 
tie  up  her  efforts  we  shall  be  victorious  in  Europe;  for 
we,  who  have  inside  information,  are  certain  of  the  suc- 
cess of  our  submarine  warfara  Personally  I  am 
equally  certain  that  our  plans  in  the  United  States 
will  succeed,  for  we  have  laid  them  thoroughly.  I  know 
what  I  am  talking  about,  for  I  have  been  the  head  of  my 
country's  organisation  in  America.  It  was  the  wish 
of  Berlin  that  I  keep  in  the  background." 

I  would  remind  the  reader  that  von  Rintelen's  opin- 
ions, as  expressed  on  the  Adriatic  are  historic,  inas^ 
much  as  he,  with  Admiral  von  Hintze  (now  Foreign 
Minister  in  place  of  von  Kiihlmann),  has  long  been 
the  darling  of  the  Kaiser,  which  makes  his  opinion  the 
inside  official  one. 

Von  Rintelen  expressed  great  faith  in  the  success  of : 

1.  The  pro-German  anti-war  propaganda  in  Amer- 
ica— his  exact  expression. 

2.  The  destruction  of  important  manufacturing 
plants  in  the  United  States. 

3.  Interference  with  railways  and  shipping. 

4.  Strikes. 

He  felt  that  American  industry  was  increasingly 
prone  to  strikes  because  of  the  laxity  of  central  disci- 
pline as  compared  with  Germany.  German  agents  would 
encourage  this  tendency,  and  would  not  only  foment 
strikes  but  he  hoped  in  the  case  of  vital  key  industries 
to  subsidise  the  strikers  from  a  special  fund  to  enable 
them  to  stay  out  indefinitely. 

5.  Political  pressure.  In  this  von  Rintelen  ex- 
pressed great  contempt  for  Americans  in  general  and 
for  certain  politicians  in  particular,  who,  he  said,  would 


OUR  PRISONER  EXTRAORDINARY     225 

blow  up  the  whole  country  provided  they  got  the  price. 

6.  The  probability  that  Germany  could  stir  up  so 
much  trouble  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States 
that  most  of  the  already  restricted  activities  of  the  lat- 
ter would  have  to  be  used  against  her  Southern  neigh- 
bour. 

7.  He  also  hoped  that  the  bases  contemplated  in  Cen- 
tral American  waters,  as  well  as  factories  in  Mexico, 
would  enable  an  effective  submarine  campaign  to  be 
carried  out  on  that  side  of  the  Atlantic.  These  were 
the  hopes  of  Germany's  directors  at  the  time  we  entered 
the  war.  It  is  very  comforting  to  know  precisely  just 
what  von  Rintelen  counted  upon,  for  we  need  only  do 
the  opposite  to  thwart  him  and  his  country. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  von  Rintelen  expressed  great 
surprise  that  America  had  declared  war,  to  which  he 
attributed  purely  mercenary  motives.  This  opinion  is 
of  tremendous  importance,  for  it  concerns  the  psycho- 
logical side  of  the  war,  which  is  the  basic  side.  The 
greatest  battles  and  military  campaigns,  with  all  their 
valour  and  with  all  their  horror,  are  but  incidents 
thrown  in  relief  upon  it. 

In  Chapter  V  I  told  how  the  humble  soldiers  of  Hun- 
gary with  whom  I  talked  on  the  Italian  front  were 
victims  of  this  mercenary  delusion.  That  is  under- 
standable, for  they  are  but  dupes.  But  it  seems  rather 
difficult  to  credit  the  leaders  with  the  belief  that  we 
are  in  the  war  solely  for  financial  gain.  Yet  I  feel 
that  this  is  the  true  opinion  of  the  Rintelens,  the  Lu- 
dendorffs,  and  the  Hohenzollerns. 

In  the  first  place,  they  know  in  their  hearts  that  they 
are  in  the  war  to  make  a  territorially  and  economically 
greater  Germany.     They  therefore  naturally  attribute 


226   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

to  others  the  motives  which  are  their  own.  They  are 
furthermore  imbued  with  an  idea  diflficult  for  Americans 
to  comprehend,  that  unless  we  had  financial  or  ulterior 
motives,  we  would  have  stood  aside  when  Germany  com- 
manded. 

During  the  crisis  following  the  torpedoing  of  the 
Sussex,  even  mild  Germans  exclaimed  to  me:  "But 
why  should  Americans  be  travelling  on  those  ships  when 
Germany  says  they  have  no  right  to  do  so?"  All  of 
which  means  that  we  can  get  along  very  nicely  with 
the  Germans  if  we  can  but  devise  some  means  of 
betaking  ourselves  to  some  other  planet  If  we  can 
not  do  this,  there  remains  only  the  alternative  of 
physically  thrashing  them  until  they  know  they  are 
beaten. 

"No  doubt  Jules  reflected  in  similar  vein  as  he  lis- 
tened to  von  Rintelen,  while  the  wind  whistled  down 
the  deck  and  the  ship  lurched  in  the  waves. 

"We  had  better  play  safe  to-morrow,"  said  the  Kai- 
ser's master-agent.  "Let  us  meet  here  in  the  evening, 
after  eight,  when  I  shall  have  prepared  for  you  a  list 
of  definite  instructions.  itTothing  must  be  written. 
You  had  better  repeat  them  after  me  until  you  know 
them  by  heart." 

"Next  day  was  a  long  one  for  Jules. 

Rintelen  was  on  time  in  the  evening,  however.  'Ton 
will  earn  my  eternal  gratitude  if  you  will  carry  out 
the  following  as  soon  as  possible  after  you  land,"  he 
directed: 

"1.  If  America  has  not  already  broken  diplomatic 
relations  with  Austria-Hungary  or  Turkey  or  Bulgaria, 
go  to  the  diplomatic  heads  of  one  of  these  in  "Washing- 


OUR  PRISONER  EXTRAORDINARY     227 

ton  and  tell  them  that  you  crossed  with  me.  Ask  him 
to  communicate  immediately  with  Berlin  with  regard  to 
freeing  me  from  America.  I  can  be  of  great  service  to 
my  country  should  I  get  to  Mexico  or  elsewhere, — and 
there  are  further  reasons  why  my  Government  will  do 
everything  to  set  me  free. 

"We  have  practised  reprisals  successfully  against  the 
English.  We  can  doubtless  do  the  same  against  the 
Americans.  In  a  case  of  reprisals,  it  might  be  best  to 
make  an  attempt  with  the  English  first.  Have  the 
diplomat  with  whom  you  deal  send  word  to  Berlin  sug- 
gesfing  a  trial  of  the  British  Colonel  Napier  similar 
to  the  one  which  I  shall  undergo  in  America.  Also,  to 
choose  two  or  three  of  the  most  important  English 
prisoners  of  war  and  use  them  as  hostages. 

"That  piece  of  business  concluded,  or  rather  in  ad- 
vance of  it,  have  them  send  the  code  message  EINTE- 
LEN  IIELDET.  That  is  most  important  of  all.  The 
entire  admiralty  staff  will  jump  in  the  air  for  joy  when 
they  receive  it. 

"2.  Have  them  also  notify  Berlin  that  this  ship 
took  a  course  off  Ireland  marked  'Unfit  for  naviga- 
tion.' Berlin  will  probably  understand  which  course 
is  meant,  and  our  U-boats  will  sow  that  course  with 
mines. 

"3.  Should  anything  prevent  you  going  to  Washing- 
ton, or  should  you  be  unable  to  get  in  touch  with  any 
of  the  diplomats  mentioned,  please  go  to  Mexico  and 
give  the  same  messages  to  von  Eckhardt,  the  leader  of 
German  enterprise  there.  In  that  case,  it  would  be  also 
well  to  have  him  advise  President  Carranza  to  take 
three  of  the  most  prominent  American  citizens  he  can 
lay  his  hands  on  and  practise  reprisals  upon  them  until 
I  am  set  free  on  Mexican  soil. 

"4.     Of  my  great  funds,  I  still  have  $400,000  of  my 


228  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

own  in  American  banks.     Kemind  whatever  diplomat 
you  confer  with  to  get  hold  of  this  sum. 

"5.  I  will  give  you  the  name  of  a  big  l^ew  York 
business  man  who  can  advance  you  any  funds  you  may 
need.  He  and  his  whole  office  are  staunchly  German 
in  spite  of  appearances.  He  can  furthermore  advance 
you  capital  for  any  enterprises  which  he  approves.  This 
he  will  probably  do  through  a  Mexican  firm  ...  a  lit- 
tle device  we  have  adopted  to  throw  the  Amerioan 
Secret  Service  off  the  track," 

In  subsequent  meetings  Captain  von  Rintelen  niade 
certain  that  Jules  could  repeat  these  instructions  ver- 
batim. In  everything,  however,  he  impressed  Jules 
with  the  conviction  that  he  greatly  feared  being  brought 
to  trial  in  America. 

When  Jules  returned  to  South  America  from  "Nevr 
York,  he  visited  von  Eintelen,  then  awaiting  trial. 
This  was  a  custom  of  some  of  von  Rintelen's  friends. 
The  officer  prisoner,  who  has  at  least  the  quality  of 
never  giving  up,  told  him  that  rare  good  fortune  had 
enabled  him  to  send  all  his  messages  direct  to  Berlin 
with  Admiral  von  Hintze,  who  was  travelling  through 
ITew  York  from  Pekin  to  the  Wilhelmstrasse  on  a 
diplomatic  passport.  Von  Kintelen  added  that  he  also 
gave  the  Admiral  some  up-to-the-minute  shipping  news. 

That  von  Rintelen's  messages  bore  fruit,  was  evi- 
denced in  the  newspapers  of  June  8th,  1918,  when 
iWashington  published  Secretary  Lansing's  defiance  to 
the  Kaiser  in  the  following  diplomatic  correspondence: 

On  April  20,  1918,  the  Swiss  minister  presented 
to  the  State  Department  the  following  note  from  the 
German  government. 


OUR  PRISONER  EXTRAORDINARY     229 

"On  Dec.  20,  1917,  tlie  mercliant  and  interpreter, 
Siegfried  Paul  London,  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
was  condemned  to  death  by  court-martial  at  Warsaw 
for  treason  as  a  spy.  The  governor-general  of  Warsaw, 
exercising  clemency  on  Jan.  9,  1918,  commuted  this 
sentence  to  10  years'  penal  servituda  According  to 
facts  established  at  the  court-martial,  London  obtained 
citizenship  in  the  year  1887.  He  is  married  to  an 
American  citizen,  May  Leonhard. 

"London  was  found  guilty  because,  for  the  period 
from  the  beginning  of  the  war  until  about  May,  1915, 
he  served  the  enemy  as  a  spy.  He  was  arrested  on  this 
account  as  early  as  Aug.  27,  1915.  He  succeeded,  how- 
ever, in  escaping,  but  was  recaptured  on  Sept.  24,  1917. 
For  this  reason  the  chief  proceedings  against  him  took 
place  only  recently. 

'TTp  to  the  present  time,  the  efforts  of  .the  German 
government  to  effect  an  improvement  in  the  situation 
of  Capt.  Pintelen,  who  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
American  authorities  by  reason  of  acts  of  the  British 
government  contrary  to  international  law,  have  been 
unsuccessful.  The  attempt  to  bring  to  a  halt  the  crim- 
inal proceedings  brought  against  him  in  America  and 
to  secure  his  release,  has  likewise  been  without  result. 
In  order  to  lend  greater  emphasis  to  the  protests  which 
have  been  lodged  with  the  American  government  the 
German  government  contemplates  some  appropriate 
measures  of  reprisal.  It  would,  however,  prefer  to 
avoid  the  contingency  that  persons  be  taken  and  made 
to  suffer  because  the  government  of  the  United  Statea 
was  apparently  not  sufficiently  cognisant  of  its  inter- 
national obligations  toward  a  German  subject. 

"Before  making  a  definite  decision  the  German  gov- 
ernment believes  it  shovld  propose  to  the  government  of 
the  United  States  that  Captain  von  Bintelen  he  set  at 


230  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

liberty  hy  exchange  for  the  American  citizen  Paul  Lour 
don,  who  was  condemned  to  death  for  espionage,  and 
whose  sentence  was  later  commuted  to  10  years'  penal 
servitude,  and  that  Captain  von  Rintelen  be  permitted 
forthwith  to  return  to  Oermmiy.  Should  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  agree  to  this  proposal,  the 
German  government  would  take  steps  that  London's  un- 
completed term  of  imprisonment  be  remitted  and  that 
he  be  set  at  liberty  in  order  that  he  may  immediately 
leave  the  country." 

To  this  communication  Secretary  Lansing  sent  the 
following  reply  through  the  Swiss  minister : 

"I  have  the  honour  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your 
memorandum  of  April  13, 1918,  communicating  a  trans- 
lation of  a  note  verbale  from  the  German  government, 
transmitted  by  the  Swiss  political  department,  propos- 
ing the  exchange  of  Capt.  Franz  von  Rintelen  for 
Siegfried  Paul  London,  an  alleged  American  citi- 
zen condemned  to  10  years'  penal  servitude  in  Ger- 
many. The  German  government  threatens  measures  of 
reprisal  if  Eintelen  is  not  released  or  exchanged  for 
London. 

"In  reply,  I  have  the  honour  to  advise  you  that 
this  Government  can  not  consider  the  exchange  of 
Rintelen  for  London,  nor  can  it  consider  the  release  of 
Rintelen  or  interference  in  the  due  process  of  law  in 
his  case. 

"The  threat  of  the  German  government  to  retaliate 
by  making  Americans  in  Germany  suffer  clearly  implies 
that  the  Government  proposes  to  adopt  the  principle  that 
the  reprisals  occasioning  physical  suffering  are  legiti- 
mate and  necessary  in  order  to  enforce  demands  from 
ene  belligerent  to  another.     The  Government  of  the 


OUR  PRISONER  EXTRAORDINARY     231 

United  States  acknowledges  no  such  principle,  and 
would  suggest  that  it  would  he  wise  for  the  German 
Government  to  consider  that  if  it  acts  upon  that  prin- 
ciple it  will  inevitably  be  understood  to  invite  similar 
reciprocal  action  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  with 
respect  to  the  great  number  of  German  subjects  in  this 
country.  It  is  assumed  that  the  German  Government 
before  acting  will  give  due  reflection  and  due  weight  to 
this  consideration. 

"I  beg  that  you  will  be  good  enough  to  bring  the 
foregoing  statement  to  the  attention  of  the  German 
Government." 

Secretary  Lansing's  reply  is  magnificently  straight 
to  the  point,  with  the  right  punch.  It  indicates  that 
Washington  thoroughly  understands  the  Germans  and 
is  determined  to  deal  with  them  in  the  only  effective 
way. 


CHAPTER  Xj 


FOOTLIGHT   WAEFABB 


SINCE  my  return  to  America  I  have  seen  some  war 
plays, — in  which  the  villain  role  usually  falls  to 
the  Kaiser  or  some  of  his  subjects. 

It  might  be  interesting  and  instructive  to  the  reader 
to  take  a  peep  at  the  other  side.  The  Germans  are  a 
theatre-going  race.  During  the  war  their  Grovemment 
has  not  only  refrained  from  interfering  with  publio 
amusements  but  has  fostered  them.  In  France  and 
Italy,  war-time  restaurants  and  cafes  are,  for  the  most 
part,  establishments  solely  for  the  replenishment  of  the 
interior.  In  Germany,  on  the  other  hand,  there  haa 
been  no  diminution  of  music. 

German  theatres  have  continued  to  flourish.  To 
such  an  extent  do  the  authorities  believe  in  foster- 
ing good  spirit  among  the  food-ticketed  stay-at-homes 
that  they  have  exempted  the  majority  of  actors.  The 
opera  in  Berlin,  Vienna,  Dresden,  and  other  centres 
has  been  given  as  in  peace,  as  have  also  the  standard 
German  dramas  of  Lessing,  Schiller,  Goethe  and 
Sudermann. 

Shakespeare  continues  to  be  played  far  more  in  Ger- 
many than  in  England.  It  is  the  one  product  bear- 
ing the  English  hall-mark  against  which  the  German 
has  not  raged.  Indeed,  many  Germans  refer  to  the 
immortal  bard  as  Unser  Shake^eare.     Just  as  some 

232 


FOOTLIGHT  WARFARE  233 

German  professors  have  devoted  genealogical  treatises 
to  prove  that  Christ  is  a  German,  so  do  some  of  their 
fellow  miracle-men  seriously  claim  Shakespeare  as  Ger- 
man because  "only  the  Germans  fully  appreciate  him," 
and  therefore  he  and  the  spirit  of  Germany  are  one. 
In  fact,  Herr  Doktor  Hermann  Scheffauer  has  writ- 
ten at  length  to  show  that  Shakespeare's  soul,  "dis- 
gusted with  England's  mercenary  warfare,"  has  moved 
from  Stratford  to  Weimar.  Give  the  German  pro- 
fessor a  gullible  public,  and  he  will  prove  anything. 
That  is  why  it  is  so  easy  for  him — at  home — to  demon- 
strate that  Germany  had  the  war  wished  upon  her  by  a 
jealous  world. 

I  saw  my  first  German  war  play  in  December,  1914. 
It  bore  the  strikingly  significant  title  of  Wir  Barharen 
(We  Barbarians),  and  was  given  all  over  Germany. 
It  was  a  comedy  with  music,  dealing^  as  its  ironio 
title  indicates,  with  the  charges  preferred  against  Ger- 
many by  her  enemies  that  she  is  conducting  operations 
in  a  manner  that  would  delight  the  heart  of  Attila. 

When  I  attended  the  piece  in  Frankfort  the  im- 
mense Circus  Schumann  seating  4,000  people  was 
packed. 

The  action  opens  on  July  31,  1914,  fixed  by  the 
author,  Herr  Fritz  Odemar,  as  the  date  when  his  typi- 
cal Berlin  family  is  roused  from  the  comfort  of  the 
breakfast  table  by  the  news  that  "all"  the  Fatherland's 
foes  have  simultaneously  and  treacherously  declared 
war  upon  her. 

Leitmotif:  "German  Unity."  Father,  mother,  daugh- 
ter, son,  daughter's  sweetheart,  house-porter,  postman, 
cook  —  everybody  —  aflame  with  fiery  patriotism. 
"Deutschland,    Deutschland    iiber    AUes!"    is   wafted 


234  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

through  the  windows  from  the  street,  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  the  trample  of  marching  crowds.  The  mother, 
in  had  English  which  she  proceeds  to  air — a  typical 
touch — exclaims :  "Zie  English  gentlemens — can  it  be  ?" 
Her  menfolk  stand  and  snarl  in  rage  and  repeat  in  ac- 
cents of  scorn,  "Zie  gentlemens !"  There  are  grandilo- 
quent apotheoses  to  the  might  and  right  of  the  German 
Fatherland,  and  the  curtain  falls  amid  an  impromptu 
chorus  by  everybody  in  the  scene — "Die  Wacht  am 
Ehein."  It  is  now  the  audience's  cue  to  play  its  part. 
It  has  mastered  its  lines  perfectly,  and  the  amphi- 
theatre rings  promptly  with  as  hearty  an  outburst  of 
cheers  as  one  would  hear  on  an  American  football 
field. 

The  second  act  develops  a  delightfully  ideal  German 
family  life  and  emphasises  the  lofty  sentiments  which 
fire  both  the  men  who  are  leaving  for  the  front  and 
the  women  patriots  who  are  remaining  behind  to  knit 
and  nurse.  The  curtain  has  hardly  dropped  when 
there  is  a  rush  of  usher-waiters  down  the  aisles  carry- 
ing huge  trays  covered  with  steins  of  beer — a  little 
entr'acte  which  happily  transfers  some  of  the  idealism 
to  the  audience's  side  of  the  footlights. 

Act  III  finds  us  behind  an  extremely  realistic  trench 
on  the  fighting  line  in  Belgium.  It  is  the  great  act 
which  won  for  the  author  the  Kaiser's  recognition  for 
valuable  services  rendered  on  the  home  front. 

The  sufferings  of  the  troops — it  is  already  winter — 
are  depicted,  and  particularly  the  lighthearted  humour 
with  which  they  are  borne.  More  home  touches  when 
field-postman  arrives  with  letters.  As  a  people,  the 
theatre-going  Germans  can  get  more  for  their  money 
in  the  way  of  sentiment  and  emotion  than  can  any 


FOOTLIGHT  WARFARE  235 

other  people.  Hence,  audible  sobs  when  the  letters  were 
given  out.  A  parcel  of  newspapers  is  there  for  the 
company  in  the  trench.  A  sergeant  eagerly  surrounded 
by  the  men  reads  aloud:  "Russians  defeated  by  von 
Hindenburg."  (Audience  explodes,  shrieking,  "Hoch, 
Hindenburg!  !N"apoleon  von  Hindenburg!  Hoch!" 
The  sergeant  continues:  "Belgrade  Fallen!"  (More  vo- 
ciferous cheers,  this  time  for  Austria.)'  "Belgium 
Crushed!"     (Sighs  of  satisfaction  and  relief.) 

A  rush  in  the  wings  toward  which  the  soldiers  look. 
Somebody  is  coming,  and  the  audience  holds  its  ex- 
pectant breath.  A  French  soldier  enters,  bright  in 
historic  red  trousers  and  cap.  A  disgustingly  pitiable 
object,  shuddering  with  terror  of  anticipated  brutal 
treatment,  he  throws  himself  on  the  ground  and  crawls 
up  to  the  strutting  Prussian  captain,  bleating  inces- 
santly, "Spare  my  life!  Spare  my  life!"  Prussian 
captain,  magnanimity  personified,  motions  that  the 
prisoner  be  led  off,  warmed  up,  and  fed.  (Audience 
indulges  in  smiles,  nudges,  nods  and  hand-clappings, 
indicating  pride  in  German  strength  and  humanitarian- 
ism.  )     Who  said  "barbarians"  ? 

The  night  grows  colder,  and  the  Germans  button 
their  great  coats.  Presently  the  French  prisoner  is 
again  seen,  devouring  ravenously  a  huge  hunk  of  rye 
bread — ^he  has  not  eaten  for  days.  Poor  fellow!  he 
has  no  great  coat  to  button  about  him.  He  shivers 
visibly.  A  German  soldier  moves  into  a  position  suffi- 
ciently conspicuous  to  attract  the  spectators'  attention 
to  the  fact  that  he  is  looking  at  the  cold,  shaking  enemy. 
The  audience  scarcely  breathes  as  he  begins  to  unbut- 
ton his  coat  and  slowly  subtracts  his  arms  from  the 
warm  sleeves.    Good  Heavens!     Is  he  going  to  give  it 


236  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

to  the  Frenchman.  ?  The  suspense  heightens  as  he  prof- 
fers it  to  the  amazed  prisoner  who,  after  accepting  it, 
goes  to  a  corner  and  lies  down  to  sleep. 

!t\row  came  another  example  of  the  thousands  I  havB 
witnessed  of  the  highly-developed  German  characteristic 
of  overdoing  nearly  everything.  Another  soldier  re- 
moves his  coat,  tiptoes  to  the  figure  in  the  comer  so  as 
not  to  wake  him  up,  and  carefully  places  the  garment, 
blanket-like,  upon  him.  Another  does  likewise,  and 
then  another,  until  five  of  them,  after  piling  their  coats 
on  the  slumbering  poilu,  move  to  the  opposite  corner  of 
the  stage  to  shiver  en  bloc. 

When  the  Germans  set  out  to  prove  anything  they 
believe  in  going  the  limit.  The  audience  is  taking  it  all 
seriously.  Dry  eyes  are  now  the  exception.  Who  said 
"barbarians"  ?  Who  called  us  "Huns"  ?  The  act  closes 
with  an  unter-offizier  singing  a  ten-verse  song  on  the 
theme  that  the  Germans  are  not  barbarians,  with  the 
chorus  at  the  end  of  each  verse  concluding:  "Ein 
Deutscher  Held  ist  kein  Barbar."  (A  German  Hero  is 
no  Barbarian.)  This,  need  I  say,  brought  down  the 
house. 

Act  rV  gives  us  another  scene  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Berlin  family.  Fritz,  the  son  of  the  household,  is  at 
the  Front;  likewise,  Karl,  the  daughter's  sweetheart^ 
ditto  Hans,  the  house-porter's  offspring.  Fraiilein  is 
poring  over  a  book  of  poems  of  which  her  lover  in 
the  trenches  has  a  duplicate,  in  "code,"  so  that  when 
they  exchange  letters,  they  may  call  attention  to  the  par^ 
ticular  page,  98  or  63,  or  whatever  it  may  be,  which 
contains  the  particular  ditty  in  the  mind  of  the  one 
who  wrote.  Then  the  other  turns  to  it,  and  the  wire- 
less language  of  love  speaks. 


FOOTLIGHT  WARFARE  237 

Word  arrives, — a  casualty  list — that  Fritz  is  wound- 
ed, Hans  missing.  Botli  fathers  give  way  to  anguish, 
Karl  has  heen  wounded  too,  for  before  the  final  curtain, 
now  about  to  descend,  he  and  Fritz  enter,  arms  in 
slings.  (In  audience,  suppressed  tears,  sobs  of  joy.) 
Family  reunion,  much  of  embracing,  weeping,  and 
kissing.  The  "Heroes  of  Belgium"  start  in  to  re- 
count their  glorious  experiences.  Finale :  "Die  Wacht 
am  Rhein"  by  the  assembled  company,  with  audience 
standing  and  joining  in.  Then  a  parting  tornado  of 
Hochs  and  hurrahs,  and  the  usual  stampede  for  the 
cloak-rooms. 

"Das  Ausland  sollte  das  Stiick  nur  'mal  sehen!" 
(Foreign  countries  should  just  see  this  piece),  sighs 
a  portly  dowager. 

It  has  been  a  great  night.  Four  thousand  Germans 
are  convinced  that  "we"  are  not  "barbarians." 

I  celebrated  Washington's  Birthday,  1916,  by  attend- 
ing in  Berlin  a  performance  of  the  widely  advertised 
"TJnsere  Feinde — Grosses  Patriotisches  Schauspiel  aus 
der  Gegenwart  in  4  Akten"  (Our  Enemies — Great  Pa- 
triotic Performance  of  the  Present  Day  in  4  Acts). 
This  show  delighted  Berlin  afternoon  and  evening  for 
a  full  season. 

Act  I.  On  the  Isonzo.  Italian  and  Austrian  soldiers 
succeed  one  another  in  the  early  scenes,  the  former 
making  a  uniformly  imfavourable  impression.  An  un- 
prepossessing lot,  they  indulge  in  such  objectionable 
tactics  as  declaring  war  on  Austria-Hungary,  attempt- 
ing to  win  the  belle  of  the  village  by  force  of  arms,  and 
preparing  to  shoot  father  of  same  in  cold  blood.  The 
latter  is  happily  rescued  by  the  Austrians  in  a  finale 
in  which  the  Italians  prove  to  be  such  exceedingly  bad 


238  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

fighters  that  they  throw  away  most  of  their  arms  while 
running  for  safety.  The  only  thing  that  saved  them 
from  pursuit  was  the  musical  temperament  of  the  vic- 
torious captain  who,  in  the  true  manner  of  a  Franz 
Lehar  or  Leo  Fall  operetta  hero,  picked  up  a  violin  and 
played  out  his  heart  to  the  heautiful  rescued  daughter. 

Though  the  audience  enjoyed  the  waltz,  perhaps  later 
in  their  military  after-thoughts,  they  evolved  a  possible 
explanation  of  why  their  ally  has  never  proved  able  to 
follow  through  an  offensive. 

Act  II.  Winter  in  the  Vosges,  with  realistic  scenes  of 
mountain  batteries  going  into  action,  troops  on  skis,  and 
Red  Cross  dogs  sniffing  out  the  wounded.  Then  a  de- 
serted stage,  save  for  the  fallen,  and  a  French  peasant 
enters  to  rob  the  dead.  The  thumbs  in  the  arena  are 
turned  down  apparently,  however,  and  the  appetite  of 
the  onlookers  for  enemy  "cussedness"  is  not  sated  un- 
til the  peasant  cuts  the  throats  of  the  wounded.  I  was 
told  that  in  the  first  performances  he  had  indulged  only 
in  robbery,  but  that  the  act  went  very  much  better  after 
the  addition  of  the  murder  scene. 

Act  III.  The  battle  on  the  Narew.  The  Cossacks 
attack  the  Austro-Hungarian  infantry  but  are  as  quick- 
ly disposed  of  as  in  an  official  report.  Only  one  volley 
is  necessary  for  these  hirsute  cavalrymen,  and  those  who 
do  not  conveniently  slide  dead  from  their  horses,  are 
dragged  from  them,  ten-foot  lances  and  all,  and  forth- 
with bundled  into  waiting  waggons  for  early  shipment 
to  Germany. 

But  Russia  still  disputes  the  I^arew  river.  The 
Austro-German  force  lies  concealed  as  a  strong  body 
of  Russian  infantry  enters  the  arena.  The  Russians 
appear  businesslike  and   determined.      They   are  un- 


FOOTLIGHT  WARFARE  239 

aware  that  tlie  enemy  is  in  the  vicinity,  and  consequently 
press  forward  with  vigour. 

"Surrender!"  yells  the  leader  of  the  men  in  ambush. 

The  immediate  effect  of  his  command  is  startling. 
Whereas  the  performers  had,  since  the  very  beginning  of 
the  first  act,  appeared  to  lack  team-work,  all  the  Russians 
now  worked  together  in  amazing  unison.  Like  one 
man  they  threw  their  rifles  to  the  ground,  dropped  to 
their  knees,  and  in  a  flash  two  Russian  hands  were 
stretched  rigid  and  weaponless  above  each  Russian 
head. 

It  was  clearly  the  most  perfectly  rehearsed  business 
in  the  show,  and  I  laughed. 

A  young  officer  beside  me  frowned.  "I  don't  like 
it,"  he  said. 

"Not  a  bad  idea,  though,"  I  remarked.  "The  sur- 
render of  the  Russians  without  a  shot  being  fired  de- 
lights the  audience  and  saves  ammunition  expenses  for 
the  management." 

"But  such  things  are  taken  seriously  by  the  stay-at- 
homes,  and  they  don't  realise  that  we  in  the  army  have 
to  fight  hard  to  defeat  our  enemies.  Such  representa- 
tions and  newspaper  accounts  of  enemy  faint-hearted- 
ness  will  tend  to  diminish  our  heroic  standing  in  the 
public  eye." 

Act  IV.  Constantinople  and  the  Golden  Horn. 
The  audience  cheers  as  Sultan  Mohammed  V  receives 
the  ambassadors  of  Germany,  Austria-Hungary  and 
Bulgaria.  This  little  ocular  demonstration  of  unity 
concluded,  the  heroes  of  the  Emden,  headed  by  Lieu- 
tenant von  Miicke,  march  upon  the  stage,  while  the 
audience  rises  to  its  feet. 

These  gone,  English,  French  and  Russian  prisoners 


240  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

are  led  on  under  Turkisli  guard.  From  a  nearby 
minaret  sounds  the  call  for  evening  prayer.  The 
Mohammedans  prostrate  themselves  upon  the  earth- 
The  Christian  prisoners  having  failed  to  imitate  their 
example,  are  beaten  to  the  ground,  to  the  deep  satie- 
faction  of  the  audience. 

Thus  in  Berlin  is  the  "will  of  Allah  done! 


I  saw  the  last  of  my  German  war  plays  in  Stuttgart, 
where  I  witnessed  the  famous  three-act  drama — "In 
Dollarland."  The  action  took  place  in  New  York  dur- 
ing 1916.  The  play  hinges  upon  the  mental  anguish 
of  a  group  of  Germans  cut  off  from  their  beloved  Father- 
land and  forced  to  live  among  money-grubbing  Yan- 
kees.   Politics  enter  continually. 

On  one  occasion,  one  of  the  characters  remarks: 
"Money  will  do  anything  in  the  United  States.  It 
should  be  great  satisfaction  to  our  good  Kaiser  to  know 
that  he  will  never  have  to  spill  any  German  blood 
when  dealing  with  America.  He  will  always  be  able 
to  buy  what  he  wants  over  here." 

At  which  Stuttgart  breathed  more  easily  and  ap- 
plauded. 

The  hero  has  had  the  terrible  misfortune — so  feel  his 
parents — to  fall  in  love  with  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy 
American.  To  be  sure,  she  has  the  redeeming  quality 
of  having  once  studied  in  Germany.  She  might  re- 
form, but  they  can  not  tolerate  the  father  who,  like 
all  the  rest  of  his  countrymen,  cares  for  nothing  but 
the  accumulation  of  money.  This  is,  of  course,  par- 
ticularly obnoxious  to  a  hero  whom  you  generally  hear 
before  you  see,  owing  to  his  habit  of  bursting  forth 


FOOTLIGHT  WARFARE  241 

into  idyllic  snatches  of  song ;  and  fifty  per  cent  of  whose 
conversation  consists  of  quotations  from  classic  German 
and  Latin  writers. 

I  reflected  that  he  might  have  been  much  more  in- 
teresting and  true  to  life  if  he  had  been  mixed  up  in 
some  sort  of  a  bomb-plot,  but  perhaps  the  censor  would 
have  objected  to  such  realism. 

Act  III  witnesses  a  tremendous  transformation  of 
the  objectionable  character  in  the  piece — the  rich  father. 
His  contact  with  the  idealistic  colony  of  Kultur  de- 
votees, sets  him  thinking  that  there  are  higher  things 
in  life  than  amassing  fortunes.  He  gives  a  dinner  to 
the  hero  and  his  temperamental  coterie  in  which  he 
denounces  his  country's  unneutral  behaviour  in  "making 
ammunition  for  the  enemies  of  a  peace-loving  nation 
fighting  for  its  existence  under  its  peace-loving  Em- 
peror." He  then  solemnly  takes  down  the  picture  of 
President  Wilson  and  uses  it  to  step  upon  while  he  puts 
up  a  picture  of  William  II. 

Stuttgart  goes  wild. 

The  same  evening  the  reformed  father  conveniently 
discovers  that  his  great-grandparents  came  from  Ger- 
many, and  that  his  name  of  Stone  had  simply  been 
anglicised.  The  others  could  not  go  to  Germany  now, 
but  he  would  do  so  and  would  become  a  naturalised 
subject  of  the  Kaiser. 

I  reflected  that  this  might  be  difficult  if  the  German 
authorities  learned  of  his  past  as  revealed  in  Acts  I  and 
II,  for  I  recalled  that  Clause  2  of  the  German  naturali- 
sation regulations  reads — ^without  any  intentional  hu- 
mour: *'A  certificate  of  naturalisation  may  he  granted 
to  foreigners  only  when  they  have  led  an  unblemished 
life." 


242  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Stuttgart  sobbed  when  he  went  on  to  say  that  he 
would  begin  life  afresh  in  the  land  of  his  ancestors. 

A  faraway  look  came  into  the  eyes  of  the  Germans 
gathered  about  him.  He  could  go,  for  he  could  still 
retain  his  American  nationality  and  cross  the  seas ;  but 
they — oh,  the  anguish  of  it  all,  they  must  remain  be- 
hind ;  for  they  were  Germans. 

Then  the  hero  had  a  bright  idea — ^his  first  in  three 
acts. 

"But  father-in-law-to-be,"  he  exclaimed,  "you  can 
take  us  all  with  you  back  to  our  dear  Fatherland." 

A  pause  and  a  hush  as  the  company  stares  in  amaze- 
ment at  the  speaker.    The  dramatic  climax  has  arrives. 

"But  we  are  Germans,  and  the  British  fleet  will  not 
let  us  cross,"  all  cry  in  unison. 

"But  have  you  forgotten  that  father-in-law  is  rich, 
and  that  money  will  buy  anything  in  America  ?  Father- 
in-law  will  buy  American  passports  for  all  of  us." 

At  this  the  whole  company  surged  around  the  hero 
and  embraced  him,  then  raised  their  glasses  and  sang, 
"In  der  Heimat" 

Stuttgart  could  go  to  bed  happy.  Why  worry  about 
America?    Switch  on  the  U-boat  war! 


CHAPTER  XI 

A  DUSTY  VOLUME  IN  BEKLIlf 

FouK  of  US  rose  from  our  coffee-substitute  in  the 
Cafe  Viktoria,  Berlin.  Among  other  things,  we 
had  been  glancing  over  some  London  newspapers  to 
which  the  Cafe  still  continued  to  subscribe,  despite  long 
years  of  war.  That  is,  two  of  us,  a  fellow-American 
lawyer  and  I,  looked  at  these  papers.  Our  companions, 
two  Germans  lawyers  of  repute,  refused  to  look  at  them. 
"IsTothing  but  lies,"  they  said. 

We  adjourned  to  the  palatial  oflBces  of  the  two  Ger- 
mans, where  we  sat  down  in  the  library  to  talk  war. 
The  "professor-lawyers"  preferred  this  to  working  on 
cases  inasmuch  as  they  spent  most  of  their  time  writ- 
ing newspaper  articles  and  bulky  pamphlets  which  the 
Government  could  export  by  the  ton  to  convince  neu- 
trals that  Germany  is  always  right. 

A  friend  of  one  entered  and  joined  us.  He  looked 
military,  every  inch  of  him,  in  his  well-fitting  uniform 
of  a  major  of  artillery.  He  was  the  scion  to  a  great 
Junker  estate  in  Pomerania.  "We  were  just  dis- 
cussing the  causes  of  the  war,"  my  fellow-American  ex- 
plained. 

The  major  merely  shrugged  his  shoulders  in  a  man- 
ner which  seemed  to  suggest  that  such  a  discussion 
would  bore  him.  I  saw  that  gathered  in  the  room  were 
contrasting  types  of  Germans  and  was  struck  with  an 
idea. 

243 


244  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

I  never  believed  in  waiting  for  news  to  come  to  me. 
My  method  of  drawing  out  opinions  when  I  was  among 
Germans  was  to  take  the  other  side  of  the  question,  so 
as  to  put  them  on  the  defensive.  German  education  has 
left  debate  and  argument  almost  entirely  out  of  its  cur- 
riculum. There  is  a  reason  for  this.  With  us,  school- 
debating  training  is  based,  as  a  rule,  upon  a  discussion 
of  political  questions.  The  German  subject  is  not  sup- 
posed to  discuss  political  matters,  but  unquestioningly 
to  obey  military  and  police  regulations.  This  explains, 
in  part,  why  even  German  professors  argue  on  the  war 
as  though  they  were  children.  Like  the  majority  of 
their  countrymen,  they  are  easy  to  anger  when  crossed 
in  debate.  Making  use  of  this  characteristic,  I  was  often 
enabled  to  obtain  honest  opinions,  even  from  members 
of  the  Wilhelmstrasse.  Their  guarded  selves  would 
disappear  and  their  real  selves  would  momentarily  flash 
out — ^flashes  to  which  I  attribute  vastly  greater  im- 
portance than  all  the  carefully  thought-out  interviews 
with  which  they  have  deluged  newspaper  correspon- 
dentB.  It  was  through  such  flashes  that  I  was  able  ac- 
curately to  forecast  the  U-boat  policy  which  would 
eventually  drive  us  into  war. 

To  afford  me  a  loophole,  I  often  used  the  simple, 
but  effective  device  of  putting  my  questions  in  a  form 
which  I  could  use  for  protection  in  case  they  were 
charged  against  me  to  show  that  I  was  an  anti-German 
bent  on  planting  seditious  ideas.  Thus  I  would  say, 
for  example,  after  the  manner  of  an  impartial  judge, 
"Some  among  your  enemies  assert  that  your  U-boat 
commanders  are  a  worse  set  of  pirates  than  any  that 
ever  sailed  the  Spanish  Main."    Although  this  happens 


A  DUSTY  VOLUME  IN  BERLIN     245 

to  be  my  opinion,  the  form  in  which  I  made  the  state- 
ment did  not,  from  the  legal  aspect,  make  it  neces- 
sarily 80. 

Adopting  these  tactics  in  the  Berlin  office  that  after- 
noon, I  turned  to  the  major  and  remarked,  "Every- 
where in  Germany  I  always  find  stress  laid  upon  the 
declaration  that  England  started  the  war.  The  ma- 
jority of  people  that  I  have  met  outside  of  Germany, 
on  the  contrary,  express  the  opinion  that  it  was  Ger- 
many that " 

"Lies,  English  lies !"  interrupted  both  professor-law- 
yers, almost  in  unison. 

The  major,  however,  merely  shrugged  his  shoulders 
again.  "Why  all  this  quibbling!"  he  exclaimed,  with 
the  least  trace  of  petulance.  "Germany's  world-position 
depends  first  of  all  upon  her  army.  To-day  our  troops 
are  sweeping  rapidly  forward  through  Roumania.  If 
Russia  has  any  strength  left,  why  doesn't  she  help  her 
new  ally?"  And  he  laughed  with  satisfaction.  "We 
can  be  proud  of  our  army.  Throughout  history,  other 
nations,  when  strong  enough  to  do  so,  have  made  war. 
WTiy  do  outsiders  cry  baby  because  Germany  does  so  ?" 

I  saw  the  iron  hot  and  took  a  chance.  "But  many 
of  them  have  expressed  surprise  that  Germany  brought 
on  the  war  just  when  she  did,"  I  ventured. 

"We  did  so  because  we  thought  it  was  our  best  time !" 
snapped  the  major. 

For  a  moment,  I  thought  I  had  been  dreaming.  At 
last  I  had  found  a  German — a  forerunner  to  Lichnow- 
sky  and  Miihlon — who  expressed  himself  honestly  on, 
"Who  caused  the  war?"  I  had  searched  the  Empire 
from  the  north  to  the  south,  and  from  the  east  to  the 


246  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

west,  thus  far  without  success.     At  last  I  could  extin- 
guish my  Diogenean  lantern. 

The  two  publicity  professor-lawyers  were  almost  in 
a  state  of  collapse.  Their  sacred  duty  of  convincing  all 
neutrals  as  to  Germany's  innocence  had  received  an  un- 
expected and  deplorable  setback  from  this  painfully 
frank  Junker  militarist.  Give  them  time  and  the  quiet- 
ness of  their  studies,  and  they  would  doubtless  evolve  a 
lengthy  explanatory  antidote  to  the  major's  poison. 
Perhaps  they  would  explain  that  the  long  strain  of  war 
had  wrecked  his  nerves.  Under  the  pressure  of  dis- 
cussion in  company,  however,  they  could  only  phono- 
graphically  splutter:  "Our  Kaiser  wanted  no  war!" 
"Germany  has  always  wanted  to  live  in  peace  and  let 
other  nations  live  in  peace!"  "For  forty  years  Qer- 
many  remained  at  peace.  This  is  proof  that  we  did  not 
want  war!" 

This  remarkable  "proof"  was  always  emphasised  in 
early  Teuton  propaganda.  I  found  great  numbers  of 
American  tourists  leaving  Germany  swallowing  it  and 
quoting  it.  To  them,  of  course,  it  was  of  no  importance 
that  the  "forty  years  at  peace"  statement  leaves  entirely 
out  of  account  certain  Imperial  HohenzoUem  and 
Hapsburg  tendencies  denoted  by  such  incidents  as  Ad- 
miral von  Diedrich's  affair  with  Admiral  Dewey  at  Ma- 
nila Bay  in  1898,  the  German  methods  in  the  Boxer  up- 
rising of  1900,  the  annexation  of  Bosnia  and  Herze- 
govina in  1908  in  violation  of  agreement,  the  Morocco 
crisis  of  1911.  Furthermore,  there  was  Germany's  war 
with  the  Hereros  in  Africa.  But  perhaps  she  regarded 
this  as  butchery  and  not  war. 

"While  the  professors  continued  to  play  the  old  official 


A  DUSTY  VOLUME  IN  BERLIN     247 

records,  I  reached,  without  rising  from  my  chair,  for 
a  bulky,  yellow-bound  volume — a  rare  volume,  but  sel- 
dom found  throughout  the  world  and  even  more  sel- 
dom read.  In  that  Berlin  office  it  was  covered  with 
the  dust  of  years. 

I  was  familiar  with  its  contents.  I  said  nothing ;  but, 
wholly  absorbed,  after  having  blown  from  the  top  some 
of  the  dust,  I  read  on  until  called  back  to  the  discus- 
sion around  me  by  one  of  the  professor-lawyers  shriek- 
ing, "Anybody  who  says  that  Germany  wanted  war  is 
a  Schweirihund  (pigdog)." 

Whereupon  the  major  sought  to  change  the  subject  by 
remarking,  "You  seem  to  have  found  a  very  interesting 
book." 

"Just  *a  quaint  and  curious  volume  of  forgotten 
lore,'  "  I  observed,  changing  from  the  language  of  Hein- 
rich  Heine  to  that  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe.  "Perhaps  you 
would  like  to  have  me  read  you  a  few  pages." 

My  American  friend  squirmed  uneasily,  puUed  out 
his  watch  and  suggested  that  we  should  be  going.  He 
knew  me  and  once  remarked  that  if  I  were  lost  in  Ger- 
many, the  most  likely  places  to  look  for  me  would  be 
behind  Streng  Verhoten  (Strictly  forbidden)  signs.  In 
the  present  instance  he  feared  that  I  was  again  about 
to  play  with  fira 

I  was.  While  the  others  listened,  I  read  in  unemo- 
tional tones  and  without  the  slightest  comment,  three 
speeches  from  the  Minutes  of  the  First  Hague  Con- 
ference of  1899,  relating  to  the  limitations  of  arma- 
ments as  a  means  towards  peace — speeches  which  made 
a  delightful  contrast  with  the  statements  of  the  pro- 
fessor-lawyers. 

Here  is  what  I  read:  (The  italics  are  mine.) 


248  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Colonel  GUinsTcy  (Military  delegate  for  Russia) : 

"The  programme  of  the  Russian  Government  has 
two  objects.  The  first,  solely  humanitarian,  is  to  dimin- 
ish the  possibility  of  war,  but  should  war  take  place  to 
reduce  sufferings  to  a  minimum. 

"The  second  object  is  founded  upon  economic  corir 
sideration — to  diminish  as  much  as  possible  the  enor- 
mous financial  burden  which  all  nations  find  themselves 
obliged  to  endure  to  support  armies  in  time  of  peace. 

"On  the  first  task,  designated  commissions  are  work- 
ing to  elaborate  the  laws  and  customs  of  war  on  sea  and 
land.  I  hope  that  their  work  will  be  crowned  with 
success. 

"But  may  I  ask,  gentlemen,  if  the  people  whom  we 
represent  at  this  Conference  will  be  entirely  satisfied 
if  when  we  go  from  here  we  bring  to  them  a  set  of 
rules  for  war  and  nothing  for  time  of  peace — ^nothing 
to  limit  the  great  army  of  peace  which  weighs  so  heavily 
upon  the  various  nations,  this  army  which  oppresses 
them  to  the  point  that  a  state  of  open  warfare  might 
be  preferable  to  this  muffled  warfare? 

"This  continual  competition  builds  up  increasingly 
greater  armies,  more  numerous  in  time  of  peace  than 
they  were  at  the  height  of  the  greatest  wars.  The  va- 
rious nations  have  been  accustomed  to  support  actual  war 
only  every  twenty  or  thirty  years.  It  is  the  everlasting 
army  of  peace  which  threatens  to  ruin  the  nations  with 
its  steady  increase  of  numbers  and  frequent  changes  of 
armaments. 

"Some  say,  to  be  sure,  that  although  armies  have 
greatly  increased,  populations  also  increase,  and  there- 
fore the  burden  of  expense  falls  upon  an  increasing 
number  of  contributors.  Is  it  not  true,  however,  that 
army  increase  is  out  of  all  proportion  to  population 


A  DUSTY  VOLUME  IN  BERLIN     249 

increase?  Indeed,  military  expense  swallows  up  ck 
large  part  of  the  receipts  of  a  country  to  an  extent  that 
the  support  of  troops  in  time  of  peace  is  becoming  a 
burden  too  heavy  to  be  endured. 

"I  have  heard  it  said  that  money  spent  on  armament 
remains  in  the  country.  That  may  be  true  for  the  coun- 
tries who  manufacture  their  own  weapons,  but  even 
for  them  is  there  any  real  advantage  for  the  population 
as  a  whole? 

"Moreover,  the  continual  increase  of  armies  misses 
its  object  because  the  proportion  between  the  forces  of 
the  different  nations  remains  always  the  same,  for 
when  one  government  increases  the  number  of  its  bat- 
talions its  neighbour  makes  a  proportional  increase. 

"These  are  the  facts,  then,  which  prompt  my  sov- 
ereign and  my  government  to  propose  a  limitation,  if 
only  for  a  time,  of  the  increase  of  armaments." 

Colonel  von  Schwartzhoff  (Germany's  Delegate,  Mil- 
itary) : 

^'As  far  as  Germany  is  concerned,  I  can  completely 
reassure  her  friends  in  regard  to  war-burdens  and  re- 
lieve them  of  all  beneficent  anguish.  German  people 
are  not  bending  under  the  weight  of  taxation.  They  are 
not  being  dragged  into  an  abyss.  Quite  the  contrary, 
with  us  public  and  private  wealth  are  increasing,  and 
the  standard  of  life  is  raised  from  year  to  year. 

"As  to  the  compulsory  military  service  which  is  inti- 
mately linked  up  with  this  question,  Germany  does  not 
regard  it  as  a  crashing  burden  but  as  a  sacred  and  pa- 
triotic duty  to  which  it  owes  its  existence,  its  prosperity, 
its  future. 

"Men  such  as  Colonel  Gilinsky  fear  that  excessive 
armaments  may  lead  to  war.    For  my  part,  I  have  too 


250  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

mncH  confidence  in  the  wisdom  of  sovereigns  to  enter- 
tain any  such  fears. 

**It  is  impossihle  for  a  group  of  nations  to  regulate 
any  one  nations  military  affairs — which  include  such 
intricate  matters  as  public  instruction,  duration  of  ac- 
tive service,  numbers  of  units,  totals  for  peace  and  for 
war,  military  obligations  of  former  soldiers,  railway 
systems,  and  the  number  and  situation  of  fortifications. 
Each  nation  must  organise  itself  according  to  its  char- 
acter, its  history,  its  traditions,  its  economic  resources, 
and  its  geographical  situation." 

if.  Leon  Bourgeois  (Head  of  French  Delegation)  : 

"I  have  listened  with  the  closest  attention  to  the  re- 
markable speech  of  Colonel  von  Schwartzhoff.  He  Tun 
forcibly  presented  the  technical  objections  against  our 
adopting  the  limitations  of  armaments  proposed  by 
Colonel  Gilinshy. 

"It  does  not  seem  to  me  that  in  his  objections  he  ad- 
hered to  the  spirit  which  has  prompted  v^  to  gather  here. 
Instead  he  has  shown  that  Germany  would  support  eas- 
ily her  military  expense  while  she,  at  the  same  time,  is 
developing  rapidly  economically.  In  this  respect  I  be- 
long to  a  country  which  bears  just  as  lightly  the  personal 
and  financial  obligations  which  the  service  of  national 
defence  imposes  upon  its  citizens  and  we  hope  to  be  able 
to  show  next  year  that  we  have  not  hindered  our  pro- 
duction or  our  economic  prosperity. 

"But  surely.  Colonel  von  Schwartzhoff  will  recognise 
with  me  that  if  in  his  nation  and  in  mine  the  very  con- 
siderable resources  devoted  to  military  organisation 
should  be  devoted  in  part  to  peaceful  and  productive 
activity  the  well-being  of  each  nation  would  be  rapidly 
increased. 

"We  are  not  here,  however,  solely  to  consider  our  own 


A  DUSTY  VOLUME  IN  BERLIN     251 

particiilar  country.  Our  task  is  higher.  We  are  gath- 
ered to  examine  the  situation  of  the  world  as  a  whole. 
If  we  deliberate  in  this  spirit,  we  shall  find,  I  hope,  a 
way  to  give  expression  to  the  thought  that  the  limitations 
of  armaments  would  benefit  all  humanity.  And  we 
should  thus  give  to  our  governments  the  moral  support 
necessary  for  them  to  follow  this  noble  object. 

"Gentlemen,  the  purpose  of  civilisation^  as  it  appears 
to  us,  is  to  supplant  more  and  more  the  battle  for  lifdi 
between  man  and  man  with  an  agreement  among  them 
to  stand  together  in  the  battle  against  the  forces  of\ 
nature." 

The  five  men  listened  without  a  word  while  I  read. 
When  I  had  finished  and  put  the  volume  back  in  its 
place,  they  continued  silent  until  he  who  had  cried 
that  any  one  who  said  that  Germany  wanted  war  was 
a  Schweinhund  conveniently  remembered  that  he  had 
an  engagement.  Whereupon,  we  quietly  dispersed  with- 
out any  comment  upon  speeches  that  clearly  revealed 
which  of  the  great  powers  was  looking  forward  to  war 
some  nineteen  years  ago. 

The  truth  is  that  Germany  plainly  showed  her  hand 
at  the  HagTia 

Colonel  von  Schwartzhoff's  subsequent  remarks 
showed  that  he  was  totally  unable  to  comprehend  the 
lofty  sentiments  enunciated  by  Monsieur  Bourgeois. 
His  outlook  upon  international  affairs  is  wholly  differ- 
ent from  ours.  He  is  a  Prussian  Militarist,  a  member 
of  the  dominating  class  of  Germany.  This  means  that 
in  world  affairs  he  thinks  as  though  his  brain  were  en- 
cased in  a  high-explosive  shell. 


CflTAPTEB  Xn 

THB    MOTHERS   ACROSS   THB   SEA 

THERE  is  a  "well  shaded  path  at  Potsdam  winding 
down  from  Sans  Souci,  the  simple  and  charming 
palace  of  Frederick  the  Great,  to  the  huge  and  gorgeous 
palace  of  the  Kaiser.  To  the  left  is  the  historic  wind- 
mill with  its  legend  woven  about  Frederick,  and  not  far 
from  this  an  old  woman  stands  by  her  post-card  collec- 
tion. I  was  strolling  along  this  path  one  hot  morning 
in  the  third  simimer  of  the  war,  and  paused  to  chat 
with  her  a  while.  I  remembered  the  brisk  business  she 
did  in  days  of  peace  and  commented  on  the  change  to 
the  present  solitude.  She  deplored  the  lack  of  visitors, 
and  then  turned  to  politics. 

"Such  a  terrible  war,"  she  sighed,  "and  it  seems  in 
a  way  the  more  terrible  when  we  think  that  the  King  of 
England  conspires  against  his  own  cousin.  Alas,  our 
poor  Kaiser!" 

There  are  unnumbered  thousands  of  different  view- 
points of  this  war.  This  guileless  woman — reared  on 
the  historic  soil  of  the  Hohenzollerns,  accustomed  to  the 
pomp  of  Court  carriages,  seeing  the  railway  station  at 
Wildpark  cleared  for  His  Majesty,  and  the  drill  of  the 
Prussian  Guards  on  the  Bornstadter  Field  beyond  the 
trees — ^has  one  of  them. 

"And  to  think  that  America  too  does  not  behave  in  a 
neutral  manner,  but  makes  ammunition  for  our  enemies ! 

252 


THE  MOTHERS  ACROSS  THE  SEA    253 

But  thank  God  that  she,  also,  cannot  make  war  upon 
us." 

"Why  not?"  I  asked. 

"Wilson  and  his  kind  are  afraid.  There  are  too 
manv  Germans  in  America.     Wilson  would  fear  civil 


)j 


war. 

She  was  reciting  one  of  the  common  beliefs  in  Ger- 
many, and  then  went  on  with  the  usual  "government 
tagged"  arguments  about  the  war  until  I  was  again 
feeling  miserable  over  what  to  me  was  simply  one  more 
example  of  the  idea  chain  that  fettered  the  German 
people  to  the  German  government. 

For  the  thousandth  time  I  was  filled  with  resentment 
against  the  whole  system,  and  was  about  to  explain  a 
few  points  from  a  non-Germanic  angle  when  she  cov- 
ered her  eyes  a  moment,  and  then  brushed  away  a  tear. 
After  an  awkward  pause,  I  tactlessly  asked  if  she 
had  anybody  in  the  war. 

Then  came  the  deluge.  Her  whole  frame  shook.  *'I 
had  two  sons,"  she  began,  and  then  broke  down.  Both, 
I  learned  between  sobs,  had  been  killed  within  a  few 
weeks  in  the  battle  of  the  Somme. 

My  war  logic  slipped  out  of  gear  for  the  time,  and 
my  "explanations"  never  reached  my  lips.  My  heart 
went  out  to  her,  for  she  was  a  mother,  sorrowing  over 
the  loss  of  the  two  lads  she  had  reared  to  manhood  only 
to  have  them  suddenly  snatched  from  her  life,  now  an 
empty  life  from  which  hope  had  flown,  with  nothing  to 
do  but  stand  by  her  post  cards  in  that  peaceful  shaded 
nook  at  Sans  Souci  and  wonder  how  one  cousin  could 
be  so  unkind  to  another. 

It's  a  long  way  from  Potsdam  to  the  Bulgarian- 
Serbian  frontier.     After  having  been  with  the  Austro- 


254   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Hungarian  army  against  the  Serbs,  I  felt  a  peculiar 
thrill  at  the  realisation  that  I  was  with  the  mysterious 
other  side  after  a  circuitous  Balkan  journey  when  the 
wheezing  train  from  Sophia  pulled  up  at  the  first 
Serbian  station  of  Pirot. 

A  battered  and  tattered  collection  of  soldiers  turned 
as  they  filed  into  the  carriages  to  their  women  folks 
who  had  come  to  say  good-bye.  Two  tarried  at  the  end 
of  the  line,  a  father  and  son,  whose  story  I  learned 
later.  The  boy  limped  a  little,  for  his  wounded  foot 
was  not  entirely  healed.  Though  all  but  he  had  en- 
tered, his  mother,  saying  nothing,  threw  her  arms 
around  him  as  if  she  felt  that  by  holding  him  tight 
she  might  etill  somehow  prevent  him  being  torn  from 
her  by  war's  necessity.  Not  until  the  last  warning  "All 
aboard,"  this  time  addressed  to  the  lad  in  her  arms,  did 
she  step  back  to  let  him  limp  after  his  father. 

A  simple  peasant  woman,  her  mother's  eyes  mir- 
rored sharply  the  agonies  of  her  struggle  to  stifle  her 
feelings,  and  bravely  she  waved  her  last  farewell  ae  the 
train  pulled  out. 

There  are  thousands  of  war  faces  vividly  and  forever 
engraved  on  my  memory.  Hers  is  one.  She  had  grown 
older  than  her  husband  in  her  life  of  mountain  toil; 
hard  work  had  stiffened  her  frame  and  deeply  seared 
her  face.  Immovable  she  stood  on  that  rough  platform 
in  the  last  light  of  the  day,  her  eyes  transfixed  to  a 
fading  carriage  window  until  it  curved  gently  and  was 
gone. 

I  saw  her  clench  her  hands  and  bite  her  lips  fighting 
her  feelings  to  the  end  in  order  to  be  brave  when  bidding 
all  she  held  dear  in  the  world  what  might  be  eternally 
good-bye.    One  last  look  into  the  twilight  whence  they 


THE  MOTHERS  ACROSS  THE  SEA    255 

went,  then  the  agony  in  her  eyes  intensified  until  the 
strain  was  relieved  by  a  torrent  of  tears  that  scalded  the 
furrows  now  grown  deeper.  The  man  and  the  boy  were 
merely  on  their  way  to  fight  the  Kaiser's  big  machine, 
but  the  lonely  mother  had  to  totter  back  to  her  moun- 
tain home  to  wait  and  eat  out  her  heart 

How  strange,  I  reflected,  to  find  that  Serbs  hare 
human  emotions!  One  might  never  have  suspected  it 
after  a  sojourn  in  Austria-Hungary. 

Another  frontier,  swept  by  blasts  of  war.  I  was  with 
the  Russian  rear  guard  falling  back  from  the  last 
corner  of  the  Bukowina  into  Bessarabia.  The  retreat 
was  90  rapid  that  a  few  civilians  were  still  in  the  houses 
along  the  left  bank  of  the  Pruth  River.  Shells  had 
begun  to  drop  into  these  when  a  peasant  woman,  having 
hastily  prepared  to  flee,  came  out  of  a  back  yard  pulling 
a  little  cart  in  which  sat  a  couple  of  babies  beside  a 
bundle  of  household  goods,  while  behind  the  cart  two 
other  youngsters,  hardly  more  than  babies,  lent  their  tiny 
strength.  The  woman  struggled  toward  the  road,  then 
remembered  something  and  rushed  back  to  the  house. 
They  seemed  out  of  place,  those  tots  and  their  shallow 
oart  on  a  stage  that  was  set  for  war — a  stage  across 
which  wearied  infantry  dragged  their  feet,  while  ar- 
tillery clanked  and  Cossacks  walked  their  horses  in  the 
slow  rhythm  of  retreat.  I  saw  all  this,  but  somehow  the 
doll-like  scene  between  the  moving  column  and  the  river 
turned  my  eyes  back  as  I  marched. 

A  whistling  sound,  first  faint  in  the  west,  grew 
rapidly  to  a  shriek  which  increased  until  it  abruptly 
terminated  in  a  splintering  crash,  followed  by  a  black 
column  of  smoke  and  earth  thrown  up  from  the  spot 
where  the  cart  had  been.     A  figure  darted  from  the 


256  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

house.  But  the  forces  of  the  Czar  moved  ever  east- 
ward and  the  last  I  saw  of  that  little  wayside  tragedy 
was  the  mother  groping  distractedly  on  her  hands  and 
knees  on  the  blackened  ground,  blood  mixed  with  the 
shredded  flesh  of  her  little  ones. 

A  few  nights  later,  still  fighting  rear-guard  actions 
along  the  Pruth,  we  halted  at  dark  in  tiie  village  of 
Boyan.  The  night  was  clear  and  bitter  cold,  and  I 
was  glad  to  get  quarters  in  a  simple  Polish  oottage.  Dog 
tired,  I  had  thrown  myself  down  on  one  of  the  two 
beds  in  the  room,  when  the  mother  of  the  family  came 
from  the  adjoining  room  with  her  little  girl  of  five 
whom  she  tucked  into  the  other  bed.  Before  doing  so, 
however,  the  child  knelt  down  to  pray  while  her  mother 
helped  her  with  a  saddened  faraway  look  in  her  eyes. 
On  the  frozen  river  road  I  could  hear  the  Russian  artil- 
lery clanking  and  grinding,  while  in  the  stable  at  the 
rear  of  the  house  the  war  horses  champed  and  pawed 
the  ground.  A  sentry  shot  rang  out  by  the  river,  an 
Austrian  machine-gun  tack-tacked  on  the  opposite  bank, 
but  the  child  prayed  on.  Boyan  is  the  last  village  in  that 
corner  of  Austria-Hungary,  and  her  soldier  father 
had  been  snatched  from  home  at  Austria's  first  call  to 
arms.  The  tide  of  war  had  ebbed  and  flowed  along  the 
river,  leaving  the  Russian  line  between  the  father  and 
his  home.  He  might  be  living,  he  might  be  dead.  'No 
word  had  come  from  him.  He  might  even  be  with 
the  attacking  force  across  the  river,  the  force  which  to- 
morrow might  shell  his  humble  Polish  home,  l^o  usual 
prayer  was  that  prayer  of  the  child,  and  no  wonder  the 
mother's  eyes  were  saddened  and  faraway  when  the  little 
one  begged  God  to  save  her  mamma  and  the  house  in 


THE  MOTHERS  ACROSS  THE  SEA    257^ 

whicli  they  lived  and  to  bring  her  daddy  back  home 
again — soon. 

One  of  the  oddities  of  the  world  and  of  the  war  13 
that  those  who  do  the  most  usually  make  the  least  fuss. 
In  the  autumn  of  1916  I  was  cutting  across  the  ISTortH 
Sea  on  a  little  five  hundred  ton  British  vessel  with  six 
soldiers  escaped  from  Germany — all  of  us  bound  to- 
gether in  the  common  hope  of  once  more  eluding  the 
enemy  on  this  last  precarious  stage  of  our  journey  to 
England.*  We  realised  that  our  chances  were  not  quite 
even  inasmuch  as  five  of  the  nine  steamers  of  the  line 
had  already  fallen  victim  to  the  Kaiser's  war  on  the 
shipping  of  the  world. 

Aboard  that  craft  was  one  woman,  acting  as  table 
steward,  her  work  thus  releasing  one  more  man  to  grap- 
ple— probably  in  a  mine  sweeper — ^with  her  country's 
enemies.  She  was  leading  a  life  that  was  rough,  thrill- 
ing and  perilous  even  for  men,  but  she  did  not  seem  to 
mind  it.  She  worked  in  a  manner  utterly  unconscious 
of  the  danger  she  was  running  and  the  good  she  was 
doing.  The  way  was  hazardous,  the  indirect  course  tak- 
ing forty  hours  instead  of  the  fourteen  of  peace  time. 
The  little  steamer,  the  plaything  of  an  angry  sea,  would 
have  been  uncomfortable  at  any  time,  but  now  it  must 
pick  its  course  through  waters  infested  with  raiding  de- 
stroyers from  Ostend  and  Zeebrugge,  with  torpedoes  aad 
with  mines.  Truly,  difiicult  work  for  a  woman,  but 
cheerfully  performed  withal. 

Yet  what  we  saw  of  her  was  only  a  fraction  ©f  the 
part  she  is  playing  in  the  war.  We  should  never  have 
learned  the  rest  of  the  story  had  I  not  asked  questions 
on  the  second  night  which  encouraged  her  to  tell  it.    The 

•"The  Land   of  Deepening  Shadow"— Chapter  XXVII. 


258  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

cabin  table  had  been  cleared,  a  table  around  which  sat 
■with  me  the  three  Tommies  taken  wounded  in  the  Mons 
retreat,  the  young  Belgian  who  had  fought  at  Liege, 
another  Belgian  who^  protecting  himself  with  glass, 
had  crawled  through  the  electrified  wire  that  marks  the 
frontier  of  death  between  his  country  and  Holland,  and 
the  French  officer — later  killed  in  Macedonia — who  had 
tunnelled  his  way  out  of  Torgua,  swam  the  swift-flowing 
Elba  and  walked  for  twenty-nine  days  across  Germany 
to  Holland. 

The  woman,  her  work  for  the  evening  done,  was 
standing  just  inside  the  door  listening  sympathetically 
to  every  word  of  the  stories  of  the  men  when  a  young- 
ster of  thirteen,  whom  I  had  noticed  doing  such  odd  jobs 
as  peeling  potatoes,  came  in,  took  the  woman  by  the 
hand  and  said :  "Good-night,  ma !  I'm  tired.  I'm  go- 
ing to  bed." 

She  kissed  him  and  he  went,  and  then  we  learned  her 
story.  Her  husband,  the  captain  of  a  little  ship  taken 
over  by  the  Admiralty,  had  recently  died  leaving  her 
with  six  children,  the  oldest  of  whom  we  had  just  seen. 
Faced  by  the  necessity  of  doing  something  quickly  to 
support  them  she  eagerly  accepted  the  trying  and  peril- 
ous work  in  which  we  found  her  engaged.  But  life  at 
sea  did  not  comprise  all  her  dangers.  She  told  of  the 
Zeppelin  incursions  over  Hull;  of  how,  having  every- 
thing their  own  way  for  a  time  in  the  absence  of  British 
anti-aircraft  protection,  they  used  to  hover  tantalisingly 
above  the  city  while  they  rained  down  bombs  with  a  de- 
liberation that  made  the  inhabitants  long  to  get  even. 
"I  shall  never  forget,"  she  said,  "one  night  in  particular 
when  the  stars  were  shining  and  the  ground  was  lightly 
covered  with  snow.  Those  horrible  monsters  just  seemed 


THE  MOTHERS  ACROSS  THE  SEA    259 

to  drift  back  and  forth  right  above  my  house.  My  hus- 
band had  just  died ;  and  I,  with  fear  in  my  heart  when- 
ever a  bomb  made  the  house  shake,  sat  with  my  children 
around  me  trying  to  comfort  them.  When  there  was 
silence  for  a  time  and  the  hope  within  me  made  me 
feel  that  they  had  gone,  I  would  open  the  door — then  my 
heart  would  sink,  the  night  was  so  bright  and  those 
devils  still  above  us.  Because  we  were  powerless  against 
them  they  seemed  to  take  fiendish  glee  in  increasing  our 
agony  by  making  their  bombs  last  as  long  as  possible. 
But,  thank  God,  times  have  sufficiently  changed  so  that 
they  now  throw  their  bombs  quickly  and  rush  away." 

Carrying  on,  without  complaint,  buoyed  by  a  moth- 
er's love  in  her  struggle  to  bring  up  six  children,  ashore 
beneath  the  death  skies  of  the  East  Coast  and  aboard 
ship  above  the  death  waves  of  the  ISTorth  Sea  she  bravely 
did  her  part  for  country  and  for  home — did  it  unseek- 
ing  of  sympathy  for  self  but  ever  ready  with  cheer  and 
sympathy  for  those  about  her. 

But  all  beehives  and  all  countries  have  their  drones. 
What  a  contrast  this  woman  of  Yorkshire  makes  with 
the  kind  of  woman  who,  disdainful  of  work  since  nursery 
days,  is  content  while  her  country  battles  for  its  ex- 
istence languidly  to  lie  in  bed  in  her  comfortable 
Mayfair  hotel  until  noon,  her  only  display  of  en- 
ergy being  in  sending  down  complaints  to  the  manage- 
ment about  the  delay  of  breakfasts  served  in  rooms  and 
the  "positively  sickening  lack  of  variety  of  the  food." 

Then  there  is  the  self-conscious  petted  young  lady 
for  whose  pleasure  the  world  moves  around  the  sun  every 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days,  whose  only  notice- 
able economy  is  the  saving  of  matches  by  lighting  one 
cigarette  from  the  last  throughout  the  day.     Of  course 


26o  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

she  is  not  idle.  Fluffing  up  for  luncheons,  teas  and  din- 
ners with  "dear  old  things,"  which,  translated,  in  her 
case  means  "officers  of  various  grades  in  the  uniform  of 
the  King"  really  does  take  a  lot  of  time. 

Indulgent  mamma,  of  course,  smiles  her  approval 
when  daughter  entertains  the  rest  at  the  cafe  table  with 
pouting  complaints  over  the  absence  of  sugar  and  abuse 
of  the  proprietor  and  the  Government  because  she  is  now 
limited  to  a  choice  of  toast  or  cake.  Daughter  naturally 
feels  that  all  with  whom  she  comes  in  contact  should 
feel  honoured  to  be  allowed  to  do  something  for  her 
and  should  feel  over-rewarded  if  she  smiles  or  listens 
four  minutes  to  what  they  are  trying  to  tell  her.  War 
has  its  compensations  for  her,  to  be  sure.  Being  chief 
of  an  army  staff  offsets,  in  a  way,  war's  inferior  bon- 
bons and  saccharine-sweetened  tea.  After  all,  daughter 
is  not  always  to  blame  for  her  myopic  perspective.  I 
know  of  one  woman  trying  to  dissuade  her  daughter 
from  doing  war  work.  "How  much  pleasanter,"  she 
argued,  "if  you  would  hold  your  court  in  various  West 
end  tea  rooms  with  charming  officers,  as  does  your 
sister." 

This  class  of  femininity,  however,  is  almost  negligible 
in  Great  Britain  to-day.  The  way  in  which  the  over- 
whelming majority  of  British  women  are  making  every 
effort  and  sacrifice  to  win  the  war  is  one  more  disap- 
pointment to  the  war-willing  Prussian  leaders,  who 
when  making  their  plans  counted  upon  dissensions 
among  their  enemies,  not  the  least  of  which  would  be 
that  caused  by  the  militant  suffragettes.  Instead,  when 
on  one  occasion  there  was  labour  trouble  brewing  in  the 
shipyards  along  the  Clyde,  the  women  of  Glasgow  as- 
sured the  Government  that  they  would  go  to  work  if  the 


THE  MOTHERS  ACROSS  THE  SEA    261 

men  downed  tools,  an  assurance  whicli  had  the  desired 
effect. 

]^oteworthy  has  been  the  spirit  of  Britain's  aristoc- 
racy to  make  sacrifices,  both  of  life  and  treasure.  I 
was  particularly  impressed  with  a  certain  Lady  X,  who 
seemed  inexhaustible  in  her  efforts  to  do  everything 
possible  for  the  wounded,  but  particularly  for  prisoners 
in  Germany.  Individual  deserving  cases  got  her  special 
attention,  and  she  worked  as  unobtrusively  as  possible. 
In  the  old  ancestral  hall  she  had  twined  the  British  naval 
ensign  about  a  painting  in  a  frame  of  oak,  the  likeness 
of  a  bright-eyed,  honest-faced  young  midshipman,  who 
had  gone  down  fighting  for  home  and  mother.  She  al- 
ways paused  before  this  picture  of  her  only  son,  and  I 
saw  her  sweet  face  soften  sweeter  while  she  gazed  lov- 
ingly on  the  boy  in  blue.  One  day  as  she  turned  away 
she  said: 

"How  I  loved  him — and  loving  his  memory  is  now 
the  bright  gem  of  my  life.  We  must  be  brave ;  it  is  no 
use  breaking  down  in  sorrow.  Hundreds  of  thousands 
of  our  best  must  die  and  millions  mourn  in  silence  if 
England  is  to  live.  I  feel  that  the  way  in  which  I  can 
do  the  most  for  the  boy  I  have  lost  is  to  do  as  much  as 
possible  for  those  who  are  still  fighting  the  fight  for 
which  he  gave  his  life." 

She  does  all  she  can,  indeed.  She  did  not  tell  me, 
but  I  know  that  when  she  runs  below  her  ready  funds 
she  will  quietly  dispose  of  some  rare  book  from  her 
library  or  some  of  her  jewels  in  order  to  help  some  poor 
Tommy  in  Germany  or  his  needy  mother  back  in 
Blighty. 

While  England  was  building  up  her  army  her  homes 
did  not  suffer  to  the  extent  of  those  of  France  and 


262   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Germany.  In  1915,  however,  the  death  lists  began  to 
swell  in  th©  morning  newspapers,  and  high  and  low  the 
war  has  hit  her  murderously.  By  1918  I  found  it 
almost  impossible  to  go  into  a  home  in  which  the  light- 
ning had  not  struck.  My  innocent  remark  of  the  tac- 
tics at  Keuve  Chapelle,  for  example,  would  bring  ten- 
derness to  the  eyes  and  voice  of  the  mother  and  father 
at  table.  Their  boy  perhaps  had  died  on  the  barbed 
wire,  unbroken  by  the  shrapnel  of  those  days.  Names 
that  used  to  mean  villages  in  Flanders  and  Northern 
France  but  now  mean  merely  points  along  a  zig-zag  line 
of  shambles  and  death  are  to  the  mothers  of  England 
shrine  names  of  sadness,  sacrifice  and  glory.  From 
France  they  are  linked  across  the  Channel  with  the  va- 
cant place  at  table  and  his  room,  a  hallowed  place  no 
longer  used — little  things  to  be  sure,  but  it  is  the  little 
things  that  give  to  life  its  sweetness  and  endearing 
charm. 

Some  mothers  seem  to  suffer  less  when  they  know 
with  certainty  that  their  sons  are  dead  than  when  they 
lie  awake  nights  wondering  if  the  son  reported  missing 
may  still  be  alive  somewhere  in  Germany.  While  in 
England  I  got  not  hundreds,  but  thousands,  of  letters 
asking  me  if  I  believed  that  there  were  secret  prison 
camps  in  Germany.  The  secret  prison  camp  has  been 
and  continues  to  be  one  of  sorrowing  England's  terrible 
hopes.  I  was  particularly  impressed  with  the  great 
number  of  these  letters  which  referred  to  the  fighting 
at  Loos  during  the  September  drive  of  1915.  In  most 
of  them  the  parent  'Tmew  for  a  fact"  that  James  was 
only  wounded  because  a  comrade  had  written  to  that 
effect,  but  that  the  Germans  had  pressed  them  back  and 
taken  James  prisoner.     He  had  never  written  from 


THE  MOTHERS  ACROSS  THE  SEA   263 

Germany,  therefore  lie  must  be  in  some  secret  camp 
from  which  prisoners  could  not  write.  I  hesitated  to  tell 
such,  a  confiding  parent  that  which  I  knew  to  be  true 
from  my  last  visit  to  Germany.  I  knew  that  the  Ger- 
mans, who  had  been  accustomed  to  the  initiative  in 
offence,  had  blazed  in  anger  and  fury  when  a  real  offen- 
sive temporarily  passed  to  the  other  side.  I  knew  that 
this  rage  manifested  itself  on  the  part  of  German  sol- 
diers when  they  counter-attacked  and  that  lightly- 
wounded  James  had  been  bayoneted  to  deatb.  Some 
unknown  common  burying  pit  in  France  and  not  a 
secret  prison  camp  beyond  the  Ebine  is  the  wbere- 
abouts  of  the  missing  lad. 

There  is  a  political  side  to  a  mother's  grief.  One 
day  I  was  introduced  to  a  sweet-faced  English  mother 
in  the  Midlands,  as  a  man  who  had  seen  both,  sides. 
"Tell  me,"  she  asked  eagerly,  "are  we  winning  ?  That's 
all  I  want  to  know.  You  see,"  she  continued,  "I've  lost 
three,  and  the  youngest,  the  only  one  left,  starts  for 
France  to-morrow."  She  turned  away,  then  mastered 
her  emotions.  "It's  terrible  anyway,  but  it  would  be 
unbearable  if  I  thought  that  we  were  not  winning." 

Why  I  say  that  this  may  be  political  is  this :  In  early 
1918  during  the  internecine  political  quarrel  in  Eng- 
land in  which  some  papers  sought  to  undermine  Lloyd 
George  by  a  series  of  venomous  attacks  upon  his  fitness 
for  ofiice,  while  other  papers  attacked  the  army  chiefs, 
and  the  "Trust-the-Kaiser-Pacifists"  attacked  both,  I 
clearly  detected  the  back-fire  on  the  British  public,  a 
public  which  had  proved  itself  willing  to  sacrifice  sons, 
brothers  and  fathers  while  believing  that  such  sacrifices 
were  necessary  to  win,  but  clearly  developing  a  feeling 
of  unwillingness  once  they  had  become  convinced  tbat 


264   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

incompetent  leadership  was  throwing  life  away.  Then 
came  Germany's  mighty  offensive,  imperilling  Britain 
in  France  but  saving  Britain  at  home.  Constructive 
criticism  in  all  countries  is  needful,  but  if  carried  to 
the  cut-throat  stage  it  may  so  undermine  a  nation's  faith 
in  its  leadership  that  that  nation  caves  in. 

Before  the  war  many  English  women,  entranced,  no 
doubt,  by  pretty  uniforms  and  the  German  officers' 
professional  skill  in  love-making,  married  them;  but 
even  so,  most  of  them  have  not  lost  their  love  of  coun- 
try and  sad  indeed  is  the  lot  of  those  living  in  a  land 
where  everything  English  is  vlllified,  obliged  to  see 
their  sons  grow  up  in  German  uniform.  I  know  of  one 
case  in  the  Fatherland  where  such  a  son,  a  mere  cadet 
at  school,  used  to  talk  so  violently  against  everything 
English  that  his  mother  occasionally  remonstrated.  The 
fiery  youth  told  her,  in  the  presence  of  his  German 
father,  that  never  in  that  house  was  she  to  say  one 
word  in  favour  of  England.  Germany  is  a  man's  coun- 
try— or,  rather,  a  male's  country — so  the  father  natu- 
rally supported  the  son,  with  the  consequence  that  the 
mother  had  to  omit  war  talk,  geography  and  history 
from  topics  of  conversation.  The  German  school  has 
a  greater  influence  than  the  mother  upon  the  German 
youth  and  to  a  wonderful  extent  does  it  succeed  in  im- 
buing the  young  with  a  jingoistic  patriotism  which  puts 
Kaiser  and  army  above  all  else  in  the  world. 

Germany  has  even  gone  to  the  extent  of  capitalising 
the  anguish  of  mothers.  During  the  war  the  interest 
in  spiritualism  is  spreading  rapidly,  which  gives  in- 
creased opportunity  to  the  psychological  jugglers  who 
trick  people  with  what  they  call  spiritualism.  One 
psychic  bucket  shop  on  Regent  Street  in  London  did 


THE  MOTHERS  ACROSS  THE  SEA    265 

a  prosperous  business  until  closed  by  the  activities  of 
the  Daily  Mail.  One  of  the  assistant  mediums  was  an 
Austrian  and  the  police  search  of  papers  disclosed  the 
interesting  information  that  all  the  questions  which  h© 
asked  grief-stricken  mothers  about  the  units  to  which 
their  sons  were  attached  and  all  possible  military  infor- 
mation had  been  carefully  tabulated  for  transference 
to  the  Wilhelmstrasse. 

I  was  standing  one  summer  morning,  shortly  after 
America  Ulid  entered  the  war,  in  a  little  one-street  vil- 
lage by  the  railway  leading  eastward  from  Bordeaux.  A 
bright-eyed  French  boy  of  seven  was  prattling  to  me, 
when  I  happened  to  notice  a  train  of  empties  swinging 
back  west  around  the  bend.  I  could  see  chalk  writing  on 
the  sides  of  the  cars,  which  turned  my  thoughts  to  the 
early  days  when  I  saw  the  Austrian  troop  trains  roll  up 
to  the  Serbian  front,  festooned  with  flowers  and  green- 
ery and  chalked  with,  "Down  with  Serbia,"  and  "Ex- 
press Train  to  Belgrade."  A  little  later  I  saw  trains 
roll  west  in  Germany  inscribed  with,  "Express  Train 
to  Paris." 

But  those  scenes  had  long  ago  faded  in  the  grim 
reality  of  war,  Ko  European  soldiers  were  any  longer 
in  this  mood.  Too  many  comrades  had  fallen,  and  the 
teeth  had  become  too  tightly  set. 

There  could  be  only  one  explanation.  After  nearly 
three  years  in  warring  Europe  I  was  thrilled  with  the 
thought  that  the  boys  from  home  must  have  ridden  in 
that  train.  I  was  sure  of  it  when  I  could  make  out  "Ber- 
lin or  Bust." 

"What  does  it  say  ?"  the  little  French  boy  asked.  I 
translated  that  beautiful  bit  of  sentiment  and  then  ren- 
dered for  him  the  next  epithet  of  "Down  with  the 


266  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Kaiser."  At  least,  that  is  how  I  rendered  it — for,  after 
all,  the  child  was  only  seven,  and  "down"  expressed  the 
■direction  quite  as  accurately  as  the  more  forcible  phrase 
used  by  the  troops. 

"That  means  the  Americans  have  surely  come  ?"  asked 
the  child  excitedly. 

I  assured  him  that  it  certainly  did. 

His  eyes  beamed.  "I  must  run  home  and  tell  mam- 
ma," he  cried.  "Mamma  teaches  me  to  pray  every  night 
before  I  go  to  bed  to  ask  God  to  send  the  Americans 
soon.  Then  France  will  be  saved,  and  papa  can  home 
home." 

There  are  mothers  braving  danger  such  as  those  of 
the  Bukowina  and  the  blockade  runner  of  the  North 
Sea,  but  most  of  them  are  far  from  the  scenes  of  hos- 
tilities, mourning  the  lost  or  lonely  for  the  absent  or 
anxiously  waiting  from  letter  to  letter.  From  the  Black 
Sea  to  Land's  End  they  suffer  for  the  most  part  in 
silence,  never  quite  free  from  fear  when  they  know  that 
their  sons  are  in  the  danger  zone  or  some  time  going  to 
it.  A  mother  is  a  mother  the  world  over  and  there  is  no 
more  steadfast  or  truer  love  than  is  hers  for  her  son. 
It  matters  not  whether  she  rocked  him  in  a  Balkan 
peasant  hut  while  she  busily  plied  her  loom,  or  took  him 
from  the  nurse  amid  tapestry  and  marble — she  will  in 
most  cases  centre  her  hope  in  him  more  and  more  with 
passing  years.  Mothers  make  the  character  of  men,  and 
home  and  mother  are  synonymous.  Cafes,  theatres  and 
the  social  whirl  have  their  uses,  but  it  is  homes,  not 
these,  that  make  a  nation  great.  And  it  is  mighty  hard 
for  a  mother  to  watch  her  son  grow  to  manhood  and  then 
see  him  hacked  down  by  war  on  the  threshold  of  life. 

I  used  to  admire  Bismarck  and  I  used  to  admire  the 


THE  MOTHERS  ACROSS  THE  SEA    267 

German  army  as  the  greatest  military  machine  in  the 
world.  Indeed,  in  1911,  during  the  Agadir  crisis,  when 
I  was  in  Alsace-Lorraine,  I  caught  some  of  the  Ger- 
man military  enthusiasm  as  they  eagerly  expected  that 
the  dogs  of  war  would  he  cut  loose  on  France,  hut  In 
Belgium  I  began  to  realise  the  terrible  responsibility 
on  the  head  of  a  man  or  group  of  men  deliberately  be- 
ginning a  war  without  having  exhausted  all  effort  to  a 
peaceful  solution. 

For  three  and  a  half  years  I  have  heard  the  sobs  and 
seen  the  tears  of  the  mothers  of  Europe  and  I  realise 
that  to  their  grief  is  now  mingled  that  of  the  mothers 
of  my  own  country.  Their  cross  of  sorrow  seems  almost 
too  difficult  sometimes  for  one  generation  and  if  the  war 
ends  in  such  a  way  that  they  must  transfer  it  to  the 
mothers  of  the  next  all  this  misery  and  sacrifice  will 
have  been  in  vain. 

Yet  Baron  von  Freytag,  after  bloody  years  of  war, 
voicing  the  sentiment  of  military  Germany,  says  in  ref- 
erence to  the  next  war : 

''Our  business  is  to  maintain  the  fundamental  ideas 
of  war  as  they  lived  in  the  German  army  up  to  the  year 
WlJf-^  to  soak  them  vn  the  experiences  of  the  presents 
war,  and  to  make  the  fullest  technical  use  of  these  ea> 
periences.'* 


CHAPTER  Xin 


THE   DUG-OUTLESS    FBONT 


THERE  are  times  when  some  side-question  in  the  war 
comes  up  which  I  am  able  to  settle  to  my  own  sat- 
isfaction only  by  a  first-hand  journey  of  investigation. 

I  recall  that  at  a  luncheon  in  London  given  by  Lord 
i^Torthcliffe  in  early  1915,  a  discussion  arose  concern- 
ing the  correct  native  pronunciation  of  the  Galician  for- 
tress city  of  Przemysl,  which  was  then  besieged  by  the 
Russians.  There  being  nobody  immediately  available 
to  settle  the  dispute,  I  proposed  that  I  should  start  in 
a  day  or  two  to  learn  the  pronunciation  first-hand.  The 
others  laughed.  But  his  Lordship,  never  timid  about 
taking  chances,  agreed  to  back  me  in  the  wager.  So  I 
started  for  Przemysl. 

In  early  1918  I  heard  varied  opinions  among  the  Ex- 
peditionary Forces  in  Italy  as  to  why  the  enemy  had 
not  bombarded  Venice.  His  lines  were  only  thirteen 
miles  from  the  city,  and  Dunkirk  was  shelled  at  twenty. 
Some,  regularly  opposed  to  the  Vatican,  said  it  was  due 
to  the  Pope's  influence — ^which  they  cited  as  evidence  of 
his  connection  with  Austria.  Others,  regularly  uphold- 
ing the  Vatican,  also  said  it  was  the  Pope's  influence — 
which  they  cited  to  prove  his  interest  in  things  Italian. 

I  went  to  Venice,  presented  myself  to  the  Admiralty, 
and  asked  if  I  could  go  out  in  the  lagoons  to  the  posi- 
tions nearest  the  enemy  in  order  to  see  for  myself  the 

268 


THE  DUG-OUTLESS  FRONT        269 

methods  employed  in  this  out-of-the-way  bit  of  front 
with  its  combination  of  land  and  water  fighting. 

An  Italian  naval  officer,  pointing  to  a  military  chart, 
explained:  "That  long,  narrow  strip  of  land  separat- 
ing the  lagoon  of  Venice  from  the  Adriatic  and  running 
northeast  between  the  two  main  mouths  of  the  Piave,  is 
the  enemy's  direct  road  to  Venice.  Towards  the  ex- 
tremity is  a  bridgehead,  with  the  Austrians  fan-like 
about  it.  The  men  defending  this  bridgehead  are,  to 
be  sure,  enfiladed,  but  for  them  to  give  way  would  re- 
sult in  the  enemy  securing  positions  on  the  island  which 
would  in  turn  enfilade  the  east  of  our  line.  His  main 
purpose,  of  course,  is  to  batter  through  the  mountains 
between  the  Brenta  and  the  Piave,  and  take  our  whole 
river  line  on  the  flank.  In  the  meantime,  however,  we 
must  prevent  him  from  working  down  the  lagoon,  which 
would  have  the  further  result  of  Venice  being  within 
reach  of  his  nine-inch  guns  and  perhaps  his  six." 

As  the  naval  officer  thus  described  the  extreme  east  of 
the  front,  the  booming  of  the  guns  never  let  us  for- 
get that  Venice  was  within  the  shadow  of  actual  war. 
While  he  was  speaking  with  admiration  of  the  sailors, 
acting  as  soldiers,  holding  that  most  advanced  and  im- 
portant bridgehead,  I  remembered  that  the  American 
Consul  had  mentioned  to  me  earlier  in  the  day  that  he 
had  a  large  chest  of  tobacco  and  sweets  for  distribution 
— a  remembrance  which  presented  a  plan  to  my  mind. 
An  idea  had  occurred  to  me  when  the  naval  officer  said, 
"Within  reach  of  the  enemy's  nine-inch  guns,  and  per- 
haps his  six."  "What  of  his  twelves,  fourteens,  and 
sixteens?"  I  thought. 

Secondly,  I  had  been  growing  increasingly  interested 
in  Italian   psychological  traits   as   affecting  the  war. 


270  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Ancient  Rome  has  long  ago  passed  away.  The  mod- 
ern Italian  is  young,  not  old.  The  mass  of  the  people 
impressed  me  with  their  kindly  spirit  and  their  suscep- 
tibility to  influence — which  makes  them  easy  dupes  of 
any  kind  of  propaganda, — ^their  appreciation  of  inter- 
est shown  in  them,  and  their  readiness  to  return  favour 
for  favour.  I  refer  of  course  to  the  mass  of  the  people, 
and  not  to  the  professional  tourist-scavengers  who  in- 
fested the  Amalfi  drive  and  other  beaten  paths  in  peace 
time. 

I  had  found  Consul  Carroll  at  Venice  among  the  best 
of  the  many  excellent  men  of  our  consular  service  whom 
I  have  learned  to  know  and  respect.  Some  of  them  car- 
ried out  their  duties  imder  most  trying  conditions  in 
the  Central  Empires  in  a  manner  which  merits  the  grati- 
tude of  our  country.  Mr.  Carroll  has  earned  a  wide  repu- 
tation in  ^ITorthem  Italy  for  his  ever-helpful  activity 
during  the  months  when  the  fate  of  the  nation  swayed 
in  the  balanca  I  was  not  surprised,  therefore,  when  he 
unhesitatingly  accepted  my  proposal  that  we  should  try 
to  make  our  way  to  the  bridgehead  and  personally  dis- 
tribute cheering  packages  to  its  defenders. 

I  told  him  that  members  of  the  Italian  Government 
had  expressed  to  me  the  hope  that  America  would  see 
her  way  clear  to  send  some  troops  to  Italy  for  the  stimu- 
lating effect  that  it  would  have  upon  the  native  soldiery. 
I  remarked  that  this  was  a  world  of  comparative  values, 
and  that  it  would  be  interesting  for  us  to  observe  how 
we  should  be  received  among  a  picked  body  of  troops 
who  would  realise  that  a  couple  of  Americans  had  vol- 
untarily risked  their  lives  to  go  out  to  them  because  they 
believed  in  them. 


THE  DUG-OUTLESS  FRONT        271 

The  Admiralty  agreed  to  my  proposition  and  provided 
us  with  a  swift  naval  launch. 

Venice  has  always  been  a  magnet  for  tourists,  for 
whom  it  has  a  kind  of  Arabian  Nights'  fascination.  I 
last  had  seen  it  in  the  early  summer  of  1914  while  on 
my  way  to  Austria.  It  had  a  charm  all  its  own  on  a 
night  of  carnival,  when  the  canals  teemed  with  the 
shadowy  outlines  of  gondolas  of  pleasure  and  romance, 
and  the  windows  of  the  hotels  and  palaces  along  the 
Grand  Canal  blazed  brightly,  while  across  the  spark- 
ling waters  were  wafted  notes  of  melody  from  floats  fes- 
tooned with  myriads  of  lights,  gliding  gently  with  the 
stream. 

Yet  infinitely  more  magical  did  I  find  this  dreamland 
when  not  music,  but  the  roar  of  the  guns,  was  borne 
upon  the  waters.  All  windows  were  heavily  shuttered, 
partly  that  no  ray  might  guide  the  raiders  from  the  sky, 
and  partly  because  this  city  of  150,000,  plus  tens  of 
thousands  of  visitors,  had  now  shrunk  below  50,000, 
most  of  whom  stayed  at  home  in  the  evening  to  huddle 
over  whatever  little  fire  they  could  muster.  To  stroll 
alone  through  miles  of  silent  empty  streets  and  stygian 
passageways,  along  and  across  canals  rippled  only  by 
the  winter  wind,  with  the  flood  of  cold  moonlight  silver- 
ing into  chiselled  detail  the  bridges,  marble  columns, 
arches  and  delicate  tracery  of  a  deserted  Fairyland,  was 
to  feel  the  sublimity  of  the  architectural  genius  of  an 
age  when  Eastern  trade  and  beauty  went  hand  in  hand. 

One  morning,  just  as  davsTi  was  breaking,  the  Consul 
and  I  in  our  naval  launch  were  cutting  the  waters  of 
the  Grand  Canal.  We  could  still  look  back  at  the  Cam- 
panile, pencilled  against  the  sky,  when  we  passed  under 
forts  whose  huge  guns  bellowed  above  our  heads.     A 


272   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

little  farther  we  threaded  our  way  among  rafts  from 
which  six-inch  naval  guns  sent  their  shells  hurtling 
over  us  so  close  that  the  rush  of  air  seemed  to  pick  up 
our  craft  and  sweep  it  forward. 

"We  left  the  launch  at  a  point  where  the  Austrian 
trenches  curved  down  to  the  canal  not  far  ahead.  We 
were  on  the  island  between  the  Old  Piave  and  the 
Piave,  the  last  long  strip  leading  to  our  bridgehead  goal 
— a  barren  flat  formed  from  the  silt  brought  down  from 
the  river  and  the  sands  washed  up  by  the  sea.  Along 
the  uneven  roads  of  this  flimsy  land,  dotted  with  a  few 
flimsy  pinkish  houses,  Italian  sailors  were  moving  am- 
munition slowly  forward  on  carts  drawn  by  horses, 
mules,  donkeys  and  oxen.  We  got  the  start  of  these, 
however,  in  a  motor-transport  which  staggered  along 
the  road  toward  the  shells  bursting  ahead. 

We  had  entered  the  "dug-outless"  front.  Like  a  coral 
island  it  seems  to  float;  for  if  you  dig  down  in  most 
places,  you  need  turn  only  a  few  shovels  to  strike  muddy 
water.  Consequently,  the  Italians  have  to  make  most 
of  their  cover  by  filling  sandbags  and  piling  them  up 
on  the  surface.  The  low  ridge  of  dunes  is  the  chief  solid 
exception,  and  its  possession  by  the  enemy  would  prove 
a  long-range  bombardment  menace  to  Venice.  The 
^  ustrians  on  the  mainland  have  firmer  terrain,  but  not 
firm  enough  for  the  concrete  foundations  necessary  for 
their  heavy  howitzers.  In  artillery  duels  the  Italians, 
with  their  movable  raft-batteries,  have  a  decided  advan- 
tage. That,  and  not  the  Vatican,  or  Austrian  good  in- 
tentions, is  the  secret  of  why  the  guns  have  not  been 
trained  on  the  Pearl  of  the  Adriatic. 

That  the  enemy  want  the  island  badly  is  constantly 
evidenced  by  the  activity  of  their  artillery,  and  the  de- 


THE  DUG-OUTLESS  FRONT        273 

termination  of  their  attacks  on  the  bridgehead.  By  an 
interesting  coincidence  they  selected  the  morning  of  our 
coming  for  one  of  their  heaviest  artillery  bombard- 
ments. With  shells  bursting  behind  and  on  both  sides 
we  jumped  from  the  lorry,  which  we  left  in  a  clump  of 
scraggy  trees,  and  zigzagged  on  foot  across  a  papier- 
mache  country  where  most  of  the  sentries  had  nothing 
more  substantial  for  shelter  than  windshields  of  woven 
straw.  We  were  sorry  to  be  forced  to  abandon  for  the 
time  our  chest  full  of  tobacco  and  sweets. 

We  are  now  on  the  beach  opposite  the  Cortellezo 
bridgehead,  but  cannot  venture  on  the  short,  narrow 
path  leading  to  the  first  line,  as  this  is  being  potted  with 
six-  and  nine-inch  shells,  while  directly  ahead  the  rows 
of  houses  between  us  and  the  enemy  are  toppling  in 
clouds  of  smoke  and  dust. 

A  lull,  and  we  take  a  chance  on  the  shell-pocked  path 
to  the  bridgehead.  A  whistle  from  the  left  and  another 
from  the  right  and  we  realise  first-hand  the  hardships 
of  troops  holding  the  handle  in  a  spread-out  fan  of 
enemy  batteries.  We  reach  with  relief  the  mud  and 
water  pits  of  the  first  line,  and  crawl  up  to  the  most 
advanced  machine-gun  box,  from  which  we  peer  out  to 
where  Austrian  dead  lie  scattered  under  mulberry  trees 
like  leaves  raked  into  heaps.  The  foremost  lies  on  his 
face,  with  his  outstretched  hand  still  gripping  the  bomb 
that  he  had  been  about  to  throw. 

I  took  note  of  the  sailors  about  me.  Like  all  those  I 
saw  that  day,  their  spirit  seemed  equal  to  any  in  the 
world.  Here  and  outside  in  the  rear  they  were  scratch- 
ing and  sandbagging  themselves  into  a  semblance  of 
security,  while  beside  us  the  machine-gunners  were  shav- 


274  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

ing  the  nearest  enemy  trench  with  such  a  lively  joy  in 
their  work  that  to  watch  them  was  invigorating. 

The  Consul  explained  that  we  had  brought  some 
comforts  to  them,  which  would  be  fetched  from  the 
dunes  whenever  the  foe  became  a  little  quieter.  The 
men  showed  us  with  pride  the  stores  of  bombs  and 
ammunition  captured  the  preceding  night  in  a  raid. 

It  was  a  pleasure  to  see  their  appreciative  expressions 
whan  we  told  them  that,  as  citizens  of  their  great  ally 
from  over  the  sea,  we  were  thrilled  with  their  stub- 
bom  defence  of  this  out-of-the-way  front.  We  spoke  of 
how  all  the  world  loved  Venice  and  would  feel  ever 
grateful  to  them  for  blocking  the  foe's  attempt  to  reach 
it.  I  told  of  how  I  was  thrilled  in  Rome  a  few  weeks 
before,  when  the  citizens  poured  into  the  streets,  despite 
the  gloom  cast  by  the  terrible  retreat,  to  sing  and  cheer 
America's  declaration  of  war  against  Austria-Hungary, 
the  oflacial  act  which  ranged  us  at  Italy's  side. 

The  little  group  in  the  advanced  pillbox,  like  all  the 
men  with  whom  we  had  talked  that  day,  seemed  anxious 
to  show  the  measure  of  their  appreciation  of  our  com- 
ing. One  of  them  handed  the  sturdy  Consul  the  helmet 
just  taken  from  a  prisoner,  whereupon  I  peeked  out 
through  the  machine-gun  slit  and  jokingly  remarked 
that  I  would  crawl  around  into  the  orchard  and  get 
the  one  off  the  dead  man  lying  just  outside — a  feat 
which  I  considered  impossible  in  daylight  and  one  upon 
which  I  had  not  the  slightest  intention  of  embarking. 

After  we  squirmed  back  to  the  first  trench  we  made 
our  way  into  a  well-propped  dug-out  which  had  weath- 
ered the  storm  of  the  shelled  house  that  had  crashed 
down  upon  it  a  few  hours  earlier.     We  were  sipping 


THE  DUG-OUTLESS  FRONT        275 

coffee  in  this  comparative  security,  when  a  tall,  hand- 
some, olive-skinned  lad  from  the  South,  entered  with  his 
captain.  He  had  heen  standing  near  me  and  under- 
stood my  remark  about  the  headgear,  whereupon  he  had 
obtained  permission  to  risk  his  life  by  wriggling  out 
for  it.  His  dark  eyes  danced  with  pleasure  as  he  handed 
me  the  helmet  from  the  orchard  of  death. 

I  regretted  deeply  that  he  had  thus  risked  his  life, 
but  later  I  viewed  his  act  in  a  larger  light.  I  realised 
the  terrible  crash  at  Caporetto  had  not  sapped  the  spirit 
of  such  a  man,  and  I  felt,  too,  that  there  was  not  a 
"quitter"  at  the  bridgehead  or  in  the  shell-swept  flats 
behind. 

I  had  been  up  and  down  the  whole  of  the  Italian 
battle-front.  I  had  seen  the  people  before,  during  and 
after  the  retreat,  and  I  had  seen  politicians  in  Parlia- 
ment halt  in  time  on  the  road  to  national  ruin,  when 
Perolini,  the  Republican  deputy,  and  Federozoni,  the 
ISTational  deputy,  appealed  to  all  parties  to  lay  aside 
their  quarrels  for  the  rest  of  the  war.  They  succeeded 
in  forming  a  new  party  of  150  deputies  to  be  known  as 
the  "Group  of  National  Defence,"  pledged  to  no  poli- 
tics but  the  winning  of  the  war.  I  realised  that  a  new 
Italian  spirit  had  grown  out  of  the  great  retreat,  and 
I  left  the  country  with  the  firm  conviction  that  the  Ital- 
ian army  was  absolutely  sound. 

The  stimulus  which  American  troops  would  exert 
upon  it,  however,  is  of  tremendous  importance,  and 
one  that  we  can  not  afford  to  overlook.  Aside  from  our 
loyalty  to  our  ally,  there  are  two  important  reasons 
why  our  whole  war  effort  would  receive  a  serious  setback 
through  a  defeat  in  Italy.    In  the  first  place,  the  forces 


^76  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

of  the  Central  Powers  would  occupy  the  fertile  valley 
of  the  Po,  from  which  they  would  draw  food.  They 
would  also  secure  some  of  the  best  skilled  labour  in  the 
world  from  Milan  and  other  Italian  cities. 


CHAPTEE  XrV. 


THE    FRIGHTFULNESS    MOOIT 


I  WAS  talking  one  day  in  1916  in  Berlin  with  an 
American  diplomat  whose  duties  brought  him  to 
many  capitals,  when  he  took  cards  from  his  pocket, 
handed  them  to  me  and  said,  "Those  two  invitations 
concretely  represent  the  dominant  ones  and  the  domi- 
nant differences  of  the  England  and  the  Germany  of 
to-day." 

The  first,  an  invitation  to  the  monthly  American  Club 
luncheon  in  Berlin,  had  as  a  postscript,  "Bring  your 
own  meat  and  bread  ticket."  The  second,  an  invitation 
to  a  Savoy  party  in  London,  said,  "There  will  be  a  full 
moon  that  night."  So  changing,  however,  is  the  war 
that  in  1918  the  comparison  no  longer  holds.  It  con- 
tinues to  be  necessary,  to  be  sure,  for  the  German  and 
his  food  tickets  to  be  inseparable  companions,  but  the 
same  is  true  of  the  Englishman.  As  for  the  moon,  the 
announcement  above  would  be  the  worst  possible  ad- 
vertisement to  lure  the  Londoner  to  evening  revelry. 

Air  raids  on  England — a  definite  part  of  German 
war  policy — have  gone  through  two  acts  and  are  now  in 
the  third.  The  first  of  these,  the  Zeppelin  act,  began 
April  14,  1915,  and  may  be  said  to  have  come  to  an  end 
late  in  November  of  the  following  year.  Germany  had 
things  pretty  much  her  own  way  for  more  than  a  year 
over  England.     Then  the  tide  turned,  and  rapidly.     Of 

277 


278  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

tte  thirteen  targets  which  the  Germans  offered  on  the 
night  of  Sept.  2,  1916,  Lieutenant  Leefe  Robinson 
knocked  down  one  at  Cuffley,  near  London.  Three 
weeks  later  the  Germans  sent  twelve  and  lost  two. 

This  did  not  make  pleasant  reading  in  a  land  whose 
people  had  been  educated  to  believe  that  the  Zeppelin 
could  win  the  war. 

In  the  announcement  of  the  loss  of  the  three  airships 
I  witnessed  in  Germany  yet  another  example  of  how 
the  Government  ladles  out  news  to  the  lamb-like  popu- 
lace. There  was  no  German  oflScial  statement  of  the 
loss,  which  was  broken  to  the  people  in  a  much  more 
artful  manner.  On  each  occasion  a  paragraph  report- 
ing the  loss  was  "lifted"  in  Holland  by  the  Wolff  Tele- 
graph Bureau  from  the  London  Daily  Mail  and  circu- 
lated in  the  German  press.  Thus  the  Government  could 
not  be  accused  of  withholding  the  loss,  while  at  the 
same  time  this  manner  of  breaking  the  news  was  at 
least  gentle,  inasmuch  as  the  German  people  have  been 
taught  that  the  Daily  Mail  always  lies. 

A  few  days  later,  on  Oct.  1,  the  British  knocked  down 
another,  and  in  the  next  raid,  Nov.  27,  they  brought 
down  two  more.  Not  long  before  Count  Zeppelin  had 
boasted  that  the  "Zeppelin  season"  would  soon  begin. 
It  certainly  did  in  England,  using  the  expression  as  it 
is  used  of  grouse.  Defence  had  clearly  overtaken  offence 
and  "unser  wunderbarer  Zeppelin"  had  ceased  to  be  a 
real  factor  as  a  raider. 

For  the  sake  of  appearances  the  German  admiralty 
made  a  few  spasmodic  attempts  upon  the  English  coast 
during  1917,  but  they  resulted  in  little  damage,  as  the 
raiders  turned  back  at  the  first  warning  of  danger.  On 
October  19,  however,  a  flock  of  Zeppelins  drifted  over 


THE  FRIGHTFULNESS  MOON      279 

the  coast  with  engines  stopped,  then  picked  up  and  one 
of  them  succeeded  in  drifting  across  London  and  drop- 
ping bombs,  one  of  which  wrecked  a  principal  square. 
But  the  Zeppelins  had  flown  so  high  that  when  a  gale 
arose  they  had  become  unmanageable  and  at  daybreak 
were  manoeuvring  over  France,  where  five  of  them  were 
destroyed.  The  tremendous  loss  almost  caused  the  Zep- 
pelins to  be  forgotten  until  they  made  two  raids  on  suc- 
cessive nights  on  England's  east  coast  in  March,  1918. 

Thus  the  Zeppelin,  which  the  Germans  of  all  classes 
assured  me  would  bring  England  to  her  knees,  had  killed 
in  London  175  people,  whereas  during  the  same  period 
954  were  killed  in  ordinary  street  accidents. 

Its  real  function  is  scouting  for  the  fleet,  not  bombing, 
and  that  extremely  important  function  it  continues  to 
perform. 

The  English  had  little  time,  however,  to  bask  in 
safety  from  air  raids.  There  have  been  spasmodic  aero- 
plane raids  on  England  throughout  the  war,  but  on 
May  25,  19 lY,  the  curtain  rose  on  the  second  act  of  the 
thrilling  melodrama,  "Kaiding  England." 

In  the  late  afternoon  of  that  day  16  aeroplanes  swept 
over  Folkestone,  knocked  most  of  the  main  street  to 
pieces,  killed  75  and  injured  174.  On  June  5,  18 
aeroplanes  made  a  daylight  raid  on  the  Thames  valley, 
and  then  on  June  13,  in  the  full  brightness  of  the  morn- 
ing, a  raiding  squadron  cruised  over  London.  I  watched 
it  from  the  roof  of  a  Mayfair  hotel,  and  so  high  were 
the  raiders  that  I  could  see  nothing  but  the  silvery  sheen 
of  their  machines  as  they  caught  the  glint  of  the  bright 
June  sunshine.  This  raid  caused  the  heaviest  losses 
of  any  in  London,  160  being  killed  and  429  injured. 

By  way  of  variation,  the  Germans  tried  Harwich  od 


28o  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

July  4,  where  they  killed  11  and  injured  36,  and  then 
on  the  7th  switched  back  to  London.  With  an  audacity 
that  evoked  our  admiration,  22  German  aeroplanes  flew 
over  the  city  that  Saturday  morning  at  such  low  alti- 
tude that  the  natives  looked  up  and  admired  them,  be- 
lieving them  to  be  British.  Considering  the  number 
of  people  in  the  streets,  it  seems  miraculous  that  only 
60  were  killed  and  192  injured.  During  the  rest  of 
July  and  August  daylight  air  raids  on  English  coastal 
towns  continued,  but  once  again  defence  overtook  of- 
fence, and  the  increase  of  British  air  squadrons  at  home 
brought  the  second  act  of  the  big  air  drama  to  a  close. 

On  the  night  of  Sept.  4,  I  was  in  a  railway  train 
bound  from  the  South  coast  to  Waterloo  Station,  Lon- 
don. The  long-standing  order  that  all  train  blinds 
and  shades  be  drawn  after  sunset  had  recently  been  can- 
celled, inasmuch  as  the  air-raid  alarm  system  had  been 
well  developed  and  the  lights  could  be  extinguished  by 
a  central  control.  On  this  occasion  they  were  extin- 
guished at  Surbiton,  twelve  miles  from  London,  and  we 
ran  slowly  toward  the  great  darkened  goal  of  the  raiders 
across  a  country  silvered  by  the  moon.  Ahead  the  guns 
began  to  bark  and  the  shrapnel  fragments  were  thudding 
about  us  as  we  crawled  into  the  black,  deserted  station. 
The  buzz  of  propellers  overhead  followed  by  two  heavy 
crashes  across  the  river  in  the  direction  of  Charing 
Cross,  crashes  of  duller  and  deeper  note  than  the  barking 
of  guns,  proclaimed  that  the  British  capital  was  fac- 
ing a  new  proposition.  The  curtain  was  being  rung 
up  on  Act  III,  an  act  played  in  moonlight,  the  most 
dramatic  and  terrible  act  of  all. 

We  are  still  in  this  act  and  likely  to  be  until  the  end 
of  the  war.    After  a  couple  of  dress  rehearsals  in  April, 


THE  FRIGHTFULNESS  MOON      281 

1917,  the  German  managers  made  it  part  of  their  regu- 
lar programme  when  they  sent  one  machine  over  moon- 
lit Kent  on  Sept.  2.  Incidentally  this  happens  to  be  Ger- 
many's great  holiday  of  Sedan.  On  the  following  night 
half  a  dozen  aeroplanes  flew  over  Sheerness  and  Chat- 
ham, where  they  succeeded  in  killing  109  and  injuring 
92.  The  show  was  staged  at  London  on  the  following 
night,  from  which  date  advertising  matter  containing 
the  bait  of  "moonlight  night"  was  scrapped. 

At  the  next  moon  the  Germans  were  busy  as  hornets, 
and  six  nights  out  of  eight  they  buzzed  above  the  city. 
''But,"  you  may  ask,  "is  not  the  damage  done  compara- 
tively slight?  Is  it  of  any  military  value?"  Let  ub 
examine  this  whole  question  fairly,  for  it  is  an  impor' 
tant  factor  in  the  war. 

In  the  first  place  up  to  April,  1918,  air  raids  on  Lon- 
don  have  resulted  in  death  to  530  and  injuries  to  1,716. 
In  other  words,  the  people  of  London  have  suffered  cas- 
ualties totalling  three  one-hundredths  of  1  per  cent.  If 
living  at  the  front  were  as  safe  as  this  the  war  would  be 
a  picnic.  As  for  property  damage,  London  is  big  and 
the  visitor  would  need  a  guide  to  show  him  the  places 
hit. 

Nevertheless,  were  I  to  dismiss  raids  on  London  with 
the  above  statistics  and  remarks  I  should  be  utterly 
misleading.  In  the  first  place,  consider  the  amount 
of  war  material  tied  up  in  England  in  the  nature  of 
defence  against  hostile  aircraft.  In  order  to  stop  day- 
light raids  it  was  actually  necessary  to  bring  planes 
back  from  France,  where  they  are  sorely  needed  along 
the  lines  of  battle.  Thus  half  a  dozen  enemy  planes  can 
tie  up  more  than  100  British  planes,  inasmuch  as  the 
latter  must  be  divided  into  groups  to  cover  a  number 


282  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

of  localities  in  order  not  to  be  surprised  anywhera 
furthermore  anti-aircraft  guns  with,  their  ammunition 
supplies  and  the  crews  to  man  them  are  planted  through 
eastern  and  southeastern  England.  On  the  periphery 
of  London,  indeed,  the  guns  are  almost  as  thick  as  at 
the  front. 

There  is  only  one  way  to  deal  successfully  with  moon- 
light raids  and  that  is  not  to  aim  directly  at  the  raid- 
ers hut  to  throw  up  a  barrage  ahead  of  them  through 
which  they  cannot  pass.  Think  of  the  enormous  expen- 
diture of  ammunition  required  to  maintain  a  curtain 
of  bursting  shrapnel  hundreds  of  yards  wide  around  the 
biggest  city  area  in  the  world.  A  solitary  German 
Gotha  reaching  the  outer  defences  of  London  in  the 
moonlight  can  cause  an  expenditure  of  ammunition  that 
would  make  some  of  the  great  battles  of  other  wars  sound 
like  skirmishes.  Early  in  1918  London  had  developed 
such  a  barrage.  Daring  raiders  can  occasionally  jump 
the  shrapnel  screen,  to  be  sure,  for  a  dash  across  the 
city,  but  the  contest  is  much  more  even  than  when  the 
Germans  had  everything  their  own  way. 

So  much  for  the  material  side  of  the  matter.  ITow 
for  the  human.  Again  I  remind  my  American  readers 
that  warring  Europe  after  four  years  of  Titanic  conflict 
is  a  world  apart  from  that  which  still  is  ours.  Geo- 
graphically we  are  outside  the  acuteness  of  the  struggle. 
Both  sides  in  Europe  stagger  under  the  battering  and 
the  question  resolves  itself  upon  endurance.  The  Ger- 
mans work  with  method.  To  tie  up  material  is  impor- 
tant, but  their  intention  is  to  do  more  than  that.  Moon- 
light carnivals  of  frightfulness  are  a  definite  and  do- 
liberate  part  of  their  plan  to  break  down  English  and 
French  morale. 


THE  FRIGHTFULNESS  MOO.N       283 

You  have  probably  read  that  bomb-dropping  on  Eng- 
lish towns  does  not  disturb  in  the  least  the  equanimity 
of  the  cool,  collected  Englishman,  except  that  in  some 
cases  it  has  aroused  him  to  a  more  determined  effort 
against  the  enemy.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  accuse  the 
English  of  panic  during  air  raids,  for  such  an  accusa- 
tion would  be  absolutely  untrue.  On  the  other  hand,  ice 
water  is  not  a  substitute  for  red  blood  in  the  veins  of 
the  Englishman  to  an  extent  popularly  supposed.  Feel- 
ings and  emotions  he  has  in  abundance,  but  he  has  less 
of  them  bubbling  on  the  surface  than  many  other 
peoples. 

Early  in  the  war,  when  the  continent  seemed  a  place 
remote  from  his  insular  security,  the  Germans  lent  a 
hand  to  the  recruiting  sergeants  by  sending  over  the 
Zeppelin,  but  the  war  has  long  since  been  brought  home 
to  England,  with  the  result  that  air-raids  are  no  longer 
needed  as  a  stimulant  to  a  realisation  of  its  realities. 

The  Englishman  is  not  such  a  cold-blooded  personage 
that  he  is  indifferent  to  being  turned  into  a  mass  of 
jelly  by  a  bomb,  or  to  having  his  skull  battered  in  by  a 
jagged  lump  of  shrapnel  descending  with  terrific  ve- 
locity from  a  height  of  two  or  three  miles.  With  a  bar- 
rage so  extensive  as  that  of  London  it  is  obvious  that 
the  deluge  of  death  from  British  shell  fragments  makes 
taking  cover  imperative.  There  is  no  more  bravery  in 
remaining  unnecessarily  out  of  doors  during  a  raid 
than  there  is  in  a  soldier  pushing  his  head  over  the 
parapet  through  curiosity.  The  world's  sternest  teacher 
has  long  ago  painfully  eliminated  both  practices.  Now, 
when  the  warning  is  sounded  in  the  British  capital  the 
effect  is  not  unlike  that  of  a  gun  fired  among  jack-rab- 
bits, which  sends  them  scurrying  to  their  holes. 


284  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

This  brings  us  to  another  phase  of  the  raid  situation. 
One  bright  blue  day  the  "take  cover"  signal  boomed 
over  London,  causing  the  business  of  the  world's  big- 
gest metropolis  to  come  promptly  to  a  standstill.  Work- 
ers of  all  descriptions  took  refuge  in  lower  stories  and 
basements.  Shipping  and  freight  consignments  no 
longer  moved,  with  the  result  that  goods  missed  trains, 
with  a  consequent  dislocation  of  programme  on  the 
other  end. 

As  a  war  correspondent  just  returned  from  the  Con- 
tinent I  felt  it  my  journalistic  duty  to  remain  in  the 
street  to  study  the  situation.  I  walked  along  Pleet 
Street  and  the  Strand,  uncanny  now,  for  the  throbbing 
heart  of  London  had  ceased  to  beat.  A  few  moments 
ago  these  famous  arteries  of  life  were  teeming  with 
traflSc  and  streams  of  men  and  women.  With  the  first 
alarm  the  buses  tore  along  like  racing  machines  until  a 
tube  station  was  reached,  where  driver,  conductor  and 
passengers  descended  to  safety.  I  saw  lines  of  empty 
buses  on  silent,  empty  streets,  whose  life  was  the  oc- 
casional belated  pedestrian  hurrying  to  reach  some 
friendly  shelter  ere  the  breaking  of  the  storm.  I  turned 
down  to  the  Embankment,  where  the  open  stretch  along 
the  Thames  afforded  a  longer  sky-line;  there  I  gazed 
to  the  east,  but  nothing  came  out  of  the  blue  and  filmy 
distance.  After  more  than  an  hour  the  magic  wand  of 
"All  Clear"  breathed  life  once  more  into  London 
streets. 

What  happened?  A  German  raiding  squadron  had 
crossed  the  high  chalk  cliffs  of  the  Kentish  coast  headed 
up  the  valley  of  the  Thames.  London  got  the  warning, 
but  in  the  meantime  British  aircraft  had  turned  back 
the  invaders.     Now,  hecause  there  were  no  casualties 


THE  FRIGHTFULNESS  MOON      285 

in  London  and  no  huildings  wrecked  is  it  accurate  to 
say  that  there  was  no  damage  done?  What  about 
2/)00,000  workers  knocking  ojf  work  for  an  hour?  This 
war  is  one  of  men  and  machinery  at  the  front  and  the 
organisation  of  whole  nations  behind  the  front,  conse- 
quently vn  such  a  war  a  loss  of  2,000,000  hours,  a  cotv- 
siderable  percentage  of  which  should  be  devoted  to  war 
work,  cannot  be  left  off  the  debit  side  of  the  ledger. 

And  daylight  raids  are  child's,  play  compared  with 
those  of  the  moon.  During  one  period  of  activity  in 
the  autumn  of  1917  many  of  the  munition  works  near 
London  closed  down  for  five  nights.  Can  this  be  left 
out  of  consideration  in  the  rush  of  both  sides  to  heap 
up  a  superiority  of  material  ? 

Furthermore,  what  of  the  wear  and  tear  on  the  com- 
munity ?  Although  the  chance  of  any  given  building  be- 
ing hit  in  London  is  infinitesimal,  you  want  bigger  odds 
when  you  are  gambling  with  death  than  when  you  are 
playing  poker  or  bridge  or  investing  in  lottery  tickets. 
Most  citizens  of  London  have  seen  plenty  of  first-hand 
evidence  of  the  destructive  power  of  a  bomb.  In  one 
of  the  moonlight  raids  in  the  autumn  of  1917,  for  ex- 
ample, a  bomb  dropped  in  the  Bloomsbury  district. 
IText  morning  the  passers-by  saw  a  great  hole  before  a 
well-known  hotel,  the  front  of  which  was  bashed  in. 
Two  granite  columns,  a  foot  square,  were  snapped  off 
like  pipe  stems.  There  was  blood  on  the  sidewalk  and 
blood  inside  the  door,  for  three  people  had  been  killed 
outside  and  four  inside.  For  a  hundred  yards  up  the 
street  and  a  hundred  yards  down  the  street  every  win- 
dow was  shattered. 

The  morning  following  a  raid  in  late  January,  1918, 
Londoners  in  the  vicinity  of  Covent  Garden  saw  some 


286  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

40  mutilated  bodies  being  taken  out  of  a  basement.  The 
place  had  been  marked,  "Shelter  During  Raid,"  and  had 
proved  but  a  death  trap.  Such  sights  quicken  the  im- 
agination and  make  people  dread  the  chance  that  what 
happens  to  others  may  happen  to  them.  Thus  the  Eng- 
lishman, having  seen  what  bombs  could  do,  takes  them 
more  and  more  seriously.  There  is  an  exodus  from  the 
city  with  the  growing  of  the  moon,  an  exodus  so  great 
that  all  accommodations  in  neighbouring  villages  and 
towns  are  eagerly  snapped  up.  The  Government  has 
commandeered  so  many  hotels  in  London  that  the  re- 
mainder are  congested  most  of  the  time,  but  during  the 
period  of  moonlight  there  are  plenty  of  rooms  to  be 
had. 

Most  of  the  people,  however,  cannot  leave  London. 
They  make  up  their  minds  to  bear  it  and  do  so  ad- 
mirably. Outside  the  entrance  of  the  tubes  women 
stand  hour  after  hour,  in  many  cases  with  babies  in 
their  arms,  ready  to  descend  to  safety  should  the  alarm 
sound.  A  mother  who  stays  most  of  the  night  in  a  tube 
or  a  town  hall  basement  watching  over  her  children,  and 
then  takes  her  place  at  dawn  in  a  food  line  in  order  to 
be  one  of  the  first  to  be  served,  is  up  against  the  reali- 
ties of  war  to  an  extent  undreamed  of  by  her  American 
sister.  Furthermore,  even  though  John  Smith  may 
suffer  no  fear,  the  fact  that  he  is  kept  awake  by  the 
guns  several  nights  at  a  stretch  in  time  impairs  the 
maximum  efficiency  of  his  day's  work.  Germany  knows 
all  these  things,  hence  her  persistence  in  attacking  great 
nerve  centres  such  as  London  and  Paris. 

For  obvious  geographical  reasons  the  Allies  cannot 
harass  civilian  Germany  with  any  given  effort  as  can 
the  Germans  harass  them.     Nevertheless,  I  have  seen 


THE  FRIGHTFULNESS  MOON      287 

an  abundance  of  evidence  that  the  only  way  in  which 
the  Allied  Governments  can  maintain  the  morale  of 
their  raided  populations  is  for  the  people  to  feel  that 
adequate  measures  of  defence  are  being  taken  and  that 
the  enemy  is  being  paid  back  in  his  own  coin.  All  of 
which  means  that  the  United  States,  Great  Britain, 
France  and  Italy  cannot  for  a  moment  relax  their  ef- 
forts to  secure  the  mastery  of  the  air. 

During  Verdun  and  the  Somme  Germany  was  out- 
classed in  the  air  and  smarted  under  inferiority.  The 
German  airmen  were  content  to  stay  behind  their  own 
lines,  while  the  French  and  British  dashed  over  them 
to  observe,  photograph,  drop  bombs  and  give  battle. 
Many  a  time  did  I  hear  the  German  officers  in  a  "sour 
grapes"  tone  of  voice  say  ''Die  Franzozen  sind  frech" 
("The  French  are  impudent.") 

But  the  German  leaders  are  a  commendably  deter- 
mined set  of  men,  and  they  resolved  to  increase  their 
output  to  the  utmost  limit.  Even  in  the  fourth  year 
of  the  war  they  were  advertising  in  the  newspapers 
for  waste  land  near  big  cities  suitable  for  aviation 
training  grounds.  Gradually  they  caught  up  again  at 
the  front  and  have  now  and  then  forged  ahead ;  indeed, 
my  own  front  experiences  convinced  me  that  in  early 
1918  they  came  over  the  Allies'  lines  at  least  as  much 
as  we  went  over  theirs.  Observation  balloons  are  an- 
chored a  comfortable  distance  to  the  rear  and  they  are 
knocking  down  plenty  of  these.  One  day  at  Verdun, 
while  crouching  in  a  shell-hole  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Meuse,  I  forgot  the  lively  artillery  duel  for  the  moment 
in  watching  a  German  airman  dart  from  his  group, 
swing  over  my  position  and  make  straight  for  a  big 
"sausage"  anchored  a  considerable  distance  away.     As 


288  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

he  flashed  ahove  it  a  tongue  of  flame  leapt  from  the 
balloon,  followed  by  a  huge  mass  of  fire  floating  slowly 
in  the  sky.  Down  from  the  drifting  furnace  a  streak 
shot  toward  the  earth.  Then  a  parachute  opened  and  the 
daring  and  quickwitted  observer  could  go  up  some  other 
day. 

Nowhere  have  I  seen  the  human  side  of  air  raids 
enacted  more  graphically  than  in  Italy.  One  day  in 
late  December,  1917,  after  the  Italians  had  turned 
successfully  at  bay  on  the  Piave  a  squadron  of  enemy 
battleplanes  essayed  the  grey  afternoon  light  for  a 
long  detour  over  the  Italian  lines  towards  Treviso. 
Italian  and  British  airmen  rose  to  give  them  battle  and 
after  the  smoke  had  cleared  away  eleven  of  the  visitors' 
planes  lay  wrecks  on  the  ground.  I  witnessed  a  dra- 
matic incident  during  this  fight,  when  a  German  plane 
descended  in  flames.  When  it  touched  the  ground  the 
wounded  aviator  stepped  from  it  with  his  clothing  on 
fire  and  would  have  burned  to  death  had  not  a  couple 
of  Italian  soldiers  rushed  up  and  wrapped  their  coats 
about  him. 

Apparently  the  enemy  resolved  to  get  even  for  this 
11  to  0  defeat,  for  he  immediately  selected  the  cities 
of  northern  Italy  for  some  of  the  most  violent  bombing 
of  the  war,,  the  time-mellowed  city  of  Padua  being 
picked  as  the  chief  target  to  be  strafed. 

For  six  nights  out  of  eight  his  machines  came  over, 
staying  an  hour  on  each  of  the  first  two  nights  and  six 
hours  on  subsequent  nights,  all  the  time  raining  down 
bombs  with  impunity. 

The  second  night  I  was  at  the  telegraph  office  filing 
a  dispatch  to  London  describing  the  raid  of  the  first 
night,  on  which  occasion  the  enemy  deliberately  hov- 


THE  FRIGHTFULNESS  MOON      289 

ered  over  the  residential  and  cafe  centre  of  the  city  in 
order  to  spread  terror.  I  had  been  at  the  railway  sta- 
tion, a  legitimate  object,  but  not  a  bomb  fell  near  it. 
On  the  second  night,  just  after  I  had  handed  in  my 
telegram,  the  lights  suddenly  went  out — something 
which  causes  a  feeling  akin  to  approaching  seasickness 
to  the  initiated — then  a  scream  from  the  warning  siren, 
and  the  first  bomb  struck  outside  of  the  city. 

For  an  hour  Padua  shook,  and  when  there  was  silence 
for  a  few  moments  I  sauntered  out  into  what  seemed 
at  first  to  be  the  most  wonderful  moonlight  that  I  had 
ever  seen,  but  which  I  soon  realised  was  caused  by  the 
seething  furnace  of  the  burning  dome  of  the  Carmini 
church.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  church  was 
built  in  1250  to  commemorate  the  termination  of  the 
cruel  Hohenstaufen  rule  from  the  north,  and  that  now, 
after  all  these  centuries,  raiders  from  the  same  north 
had  come  and  gone  in  the  night,  leaving  this  beacon 
to  mark  their  ruthlessness. 

As  I  approached  the  church  I  heard  the  shrieks  of 
frenzied  women  whose  homes  had  been  destroyed  by 
other  bombs  which  had  fallen  in  the  neighbourhood.  One 
of  these,  stark  mad,  picked  up  the  family  dog  following 
at  her  heels  and  held  it  against  her  eyes  to  shut  out  the 
sight  of  her  ruined  home.  Her  madness  seemed  the 
more  terrible  because  of  the  weird,  fantastic  scene. 
Padua  is  a  pearl  of  the  centuries  of  long  ago  and  the 
light  of  this  old,  historic  church,  turning  the  canals  and 
the  old  arcaded  buildings  rising  from  them  into  a  splen- 
dour of  magic  sunset  light,  produced  an  effect  unlike 
anything  that  I  have  ever  seen.  I  wondered  what  I 
could  do  to  comfort  the  woman,  when  an  Italian  airman 
limped  by  me  and  went  up  to  her.    As  he  put  his  arms 


290  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

about  her  neck  I  turned  away — for  the  mad  woman  was 
that  fellow's  mother. 

I  moved  on  to  where  a  building  just  opposite  the 
church  had  been  hit  so  that  the  back  had  crumbled  in 
completely,  while  the  front  seemed  ready  to  fall  if  a 
good-sized  splinter  were  pulled  out  from  one  of  the 
prop  beams.  Beneath  the  wreckage  a  man  was  pinned, 
face  downward,  the  weight  on  his  legs  and  spine.  The 
agony  which  he  suffered  almost  drove  him  mad  and  his 
shrieks  cut  me  like  saws  and  knives.  A  fireman  was 
about  to  attempt  to  crawl  through  to  him  with  a  glass  of 
water,  when  a  priest  came  across  from  the  church,  took 
the  glass  of  water,  explained  that  he  was  going  to  crawl 
through  to  give  the  last  rites  to  the  doomed  man,  and 
turned  majestically  with  a  motion  for  the  few  onlook- 
ers to  step  back,  which  we  did,  until  the  sparks  from 
the  crackling  dome  fell  upon  us.  We  watched  the 
priest  crawl  amid  the  wreckage  until  he  could  extend 
the  water  to  the  lips  of  the  sufferer,  then  we  saw  him 
hold  up  a  crucifix.  We  saw  no  more.  There  was  a 
grinding  crash,  the  building  toppled  and  became  the 
tomb  of  the  priest  and  the  man  for  whom  he  had  risked 
his  life. 

On  the  next  night  the  moon,  relentlessly  beautiful, 
again  rose  dazzling  bright  and  flooded  the  landscape 
with  glittering  silver.  Padua,  a  compact  speck  com- 
pared with  London,  girdled  with  a  mirror  of  canals, 
awaited  the  bombardment  of  the  third  successive  night. 
Ko  tubes,  as  in  London,  no  deep  cellar  refuges,  no  wide 
area  to  magnify  the  chance  of  not  being  hit.  For  three 
days  the  civil  population  had  been  streaming  southward, 
but  it  would  be  many  days  before  all  could  go.  Eight 
o'clock  struck  and  the  waiter  in  the  almost  deserted  res- 


THE  FRIGHTFULNESS  MOON      291 

tanrant  rubbed  bis  hands  uneasily,  as  my  war  corre- 
spondent companion  and  I  tarried  over  the  final  coBrsei 
There  is  a  peculiar  feeling  in  the  war  zone  that  where 
you  are  not  i?  always  a  safer  place  than  where  you 
happen  to  be.  Thus  did  the  waiter  continue  the  nervous 
rubbing  of  his  hands. 

I  crossed  the  deserted  street  to  war  correspondents' 
headquarters,  where  five  of  us  could  sit  out  the  raid, 
while  we  aifected  a  nonchalant  air,  which,  to  be  hon- 
est, I  didn't  feel,  and  I  don't  think  the  rest  did.  No 
doubt  we  should  discuss,  as  on  previous  occasions,  such 
irrelevant  subjects  as  the  histrionic  abilities  of  Sarah 
Bernhardt.  I  looked  up  at  the  moon  and  hated  it,  the 
same  old  moon  which  at  other  times  and  in  other  climes 
would  inspire  and  make  life  more  beautiful.  But  here 
it  was  the  moon  of  death. 

The  chimes  of  nine  had  mellowed  and  gone.  Then  a 
hush,  as  all  lights  died  at  the  touch  of  a  central  control. 
The  blood-curdling  siren  shrieks,  and  the  first  heavy 
bomb  rocks  the  ancient  city.  An  hour  of  concentrated 
hell,  then  a  lull,  and  the  people  flock  unbidden  from 
their  homes.  Blanched  women,  tottering  old  men,  they 
form  a  great  procession,  which  moves  solemnly  through 
the  arcaded  streets  to  the  mighty  basilica  of  St.  An- 
thony, where  in  a  shrine  repose  the  bones  of  Padua's 
patron  saint. 

With  bowed,  uncovered  heads  they  stand,  a  huge, 
black  mass,  crowding  the  square  before  the  Santo,  their 
eyes  aglow  in  the  light  of  the  moon  and  the  light  of 
the  tongues  of  flame  darting  up  into  the  night.  A  streak 
across  the  moon,  another  blood-curdling  shriek  from  the 
siren  and  the  supplicants  scatter.  Then  a  blinding  flash 
and  a  thousand  clanging  foundries  crash  together  in  the 


292  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Hastily  deserted  square.  'A  200-poiind  bomb  whistles 
through,  the  air.  The  Basilica  is  sprayed  and  pierced 
■with  flying  metal.  But  the  people  of  Padua  have  not 
lost  their  faith,  for  they  comfortingly  explain  that 
though  the  Basilica  was  hit  and  partly  ruined,  a  miracle 
preserved  the  shrine  of  St.  Anthony  itself  intact. 

The  cathedral  was  struck  the  same  night  and  the 
whole  huge  front  crashed  into  the  square;  in  fact, 
Padua's  treasures  of  ancient  buildings,  monuments  and 
art  during  that  awe-inspiring  week  beneath  the  January 
moon  were  rapidly  becoming  memories  instead  of  links 
with  mighty  centuries  that  have  forever  rolled  away. 

I  was  particularly  impressed  one  morning  upon  turn- 
ing a  corner  in  the  Santa  Lucia  district,  after  six  hours 
of  bombing  on  the  fifth  night,  to  come  upon*  a  ruined 
house  with  a  bit  of  the  back  wall  standing,  containing 
a  stone  with  the  following  inscription: 

*'LET  THE  CENTURIES  RESPECT 
THIS  EDIFICE  OF 
EZZELINO  BALBO 
'     ERECTED  1160." 

The  centuries  had,  but  the  Germans  had  not.  I  say 
Germans  because  it  was  they  in  their  Gothas  who  have 
been  making  the  moonlight  incursions  of  death  above 
the  cities  of  northern  Italy.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that 
the  Vatican  protested  against  the  bombing  of  Padua's 
treasures.  The  Austrians  did  not  come,  but  the  Ger- 
mans, though  they  were  moving  their  star  line-cracking 
storm  battalions  from  the  Italian  front  to  northern 
France,  left  their  bombing  planes  behind  to  carry  on 


THE  FRIGHTFULNESS  MOON      293 

tHe  campaign  of  spreading  terror  and  breaking  Italian 
morale. 

I  have  found  an  impression  in  America  that  the 
enemy  have  generously  spared  Venice.  I  am  inclined  to 
thank  the  constructions  of  the  city,  with  its  multitude 
of  canals,  that  not  greater  damage  has  been  done,  than 
thank  the  enemy  for  generous  motives.  Fifty-three  air 
raids  on  Venice  from  the  beginning  of  the  war  until 
late  August,  1918,  hardly  stand  as  evidence  of  enemy 
intentions  to  spare  the  Adriatic's  brightest  gem.  On 
February  26th,  for  example,  300  bombs  fell  upon  the 
city.  Thirty-eight  houses  were  smashed,  the  Royal 
Palace  was  struck,  one  wing  of  a  home  for  old  men  and 
women  was  blown  to  pieces  and  three  churches  were 
damaged — those  of  St.  John  and  St.  Paul,  St.  Simon 
the  Less  and  St.  John  Chrysostom,  in  which  an  altar 
with  one  of  Cellini's  last  landscapes  was  wrecked.  It 
takes  only  twenty-five  minutes  for  a  squadron  raiding 
Venice  to  return  behind  the  Austrian  lines,  load  up  with 
bombs  and  come  back  to  the  work  of  destruction. 

Venice  will  wear  through  the  coming  centuries  the 
scars  of  this.  In  an  earlier  raid  the  Scalzi  Church  on 
the  Grand  Canal  was  destroyed,  with  its  gorgeous  fres- 
coed roof  by  Tietolo ;  a  white  stone  five  yards  from  the 
doors  of  St.  Mark's  records  the  place  where  another 
bomb  just  failed  to  smash  to  fragments  these  golden  By- 
zantine mosaics,  which  cannot  be  carried  off  to  a  place  of 
safety.  During  one  raid  fifteen  bombs  fell  near  the 
Doges  Palace,  all  of  them,  fortunately,  into  the  water 
of  the  lagoon  a  few  yards  from  the  edge  of  the  Riva  del 
Schiavoni.  One  missed  by  very  little  the  Bridge  of 
Sighs.  Ten  bombs  fell  around  the  Rialto  Bridge  on 
both  sides  of  the  Grand  Canal.    It  is  interesting  to  note 


294  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

that  the  street  named  by  odd  historical  coincidence  the 
Calle  de  Tedeschi,  or  "Passage  of  the  Germans/'  was 
heavily  damaged. 

Whether  in  northern  Italy  or  in  Paris  or  London,  the 
intention  of  the  German  is  the  same.  He  designs  his 
air  raids  partly  to  tie  up  men,  guns  and  shells,  but  in 
this  psychological  stage  of  a  nerve-breaking  war  which 
has  now  dragged  almost  to  the  length  of  our  civil  war, 
his  chief  design  is  to  batter  down  the  morale  of  our 
allies.  It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  in  his  efforts  to  in- 
crease his  airplane  output  he  has  scrapped  the  shrine 
of  the  great  god  Zeppelin  at  Friedrichshafen  on  Lake 
Constance  and  converted  it  into  airplane  manufacture. 

N^othing  but  the  combined  efforts  of  the  Allies,  with 
the  full  utilisation  of  the  manufacturing  possibilities 
of  the  United  States  and  its  great  reservoir  of  some  of 
the  finest  aviator  material  in  the  world,  can  overcome 
this  tremendously  important  arm  of  the  Kaiser's  gi- 
gantic military  machine.  Indeed,  by  the  spring  of  1919 
the  air  initiative  will  almost  certainly  have  definitely 
and  overwhelmingly  passed  to  the  Allies. 


CHAPTEE  XV, 

THOU   SHALT   KILL 

I  WAS  in  Satac  witli  the  Austro-Hungarian  forces  iit 
the  opening  campaign  of  the  world-war.  Personal 
inclination,  or  a  magazine  editor,  or  fate,  or  something 
had  dropped  me  into  Austria  on  the  eve  of  the  strug- 
gle. I  was  seeking  the  out-of-the-way  places  among 
Bosnians,  Magyars  and  Gipsies  in  a  lone  journey  of  ad- 
venture and  investigation.  I  saw  the  war-clouds  loom 
up  on  the  frontier  of  Serbia,  and  I  turned  into  them 
rather  than  away  from  them.  I  had  credentials  which 
enabled  me  to  exist  among  the  forces  of  Prancis  Joseph 
for  a  time.  The  war  was  in  its  infancy,  and  official- 
dom had  not  yet  properly  regulated  war  correspondents. 

I  was  in  the  shambles  of  an  overgrown  village.  The 
blood  of  both  armies,  mingled  together,  still  clotted 
the  dust  in  the  streets,  and  the  wine  from  broken  casks 
and  bottles  flowed  in  the  cellars,  soldiers  wading  in  it 
up  to  their  knees. 

I  turned  a  corner  into  a  byway,  deserted  save  for  an 
unter-offizier  just  ahead  of  me.  An  old  woman,  bent 
and  shrivelled,  tottered  from  a  whitewashed  mixture  of 
mud  and  thatch,  saw  the  enemy  soldier,  hesitated  and 
started  back,  then  changed  her  mind,  turned,  and  sink- 
ing to  her  knees  extended  her  arms  for  mercy. 

The  unter-offizier  drew  his  sabre — still  a  relic  of  war 
— and  swaggered  up  to  her. 

295 


296  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

A  picture  of  misery,  she  knelt  before  him  in  the  white 
dust,  her  eyes  wide  open  in  terror,  her  white  locks 
escaping  the  yellow  sash  around  her  head,  her  bony 
arms  pleadingly  held  out  for  mercy. 

I  was  filled  with  resentment  that  the  creature  in  uni- 
form, with  his  apparently  perverted  sense  of  humour, 
should  seek  to  frighten  her.  "A  little  tenth-rate  stage 
play  and  magnanimous  pardon,"  I  thought.  I  was  mis- 
taken. The  sabre  whistled  and  slashed  the  outstretched 
arms,  and  the  wild  death  shriek  of  the  woman  cut  me 
like  saws  and  knives,  as  I  turned  away  bewildered. 

I  came  face  to  face  with  the  man  a  few  minutes  later. 
He  was  not  drunk.  Nor  did  he  look  like  a  wildman 
from  the  hills.  He  was  Viennese,  the  kind  of  man  that 
I  had  seen  on  scores  of  occasions,  lolling  in  a  cafe,  mild 
and  gentle  as  a  kitten.    He  looked  mild  and  gentle  now. 

There  is  a  cause  for  everything  in  this  world.  Some- 
times it  is  obscure,  but  it  exists,  none-the-less.  The  ma- 
jority of  people  simply  accept  incidents  and  events  as 
isolated  actions.  There  are  others,  however,  who  look 
deeper.  To  them  the  mere  fact  that  something  has  hap- 
pened, is  not  so  important  as  why  it  has  happened.  In 
this  mood  I  approached  the  licensed  murderer,  explained 
my  status,  told  him  that  I  knew  his  country,  and  had 
liked  its  charms,  which  made  me  the  more  disappointed 
that  he  had  acted  as  he  did. 

"It  was  entirely  unnecessary,"  I  said.  "Why  did  you 
doit?" 

"She  was  a  pig-dog  Serb,"  he  replied,  "an  enemy  of 
my  country.  The  Serbians  have  been  trying  to  cause 
trouble  in  my  country.  They  have  brought  about  this 
war.  I  have  seen  many  of  my  comrades  killed.  Per- 
haps that  woman  was  the  mother  of  some  dog  that  killed 


THOU  SHALT  KILL  297 

some  of  them.    If  the  Serbs  are  all  wiped  out,  they  will 
make  no  more  trouble.    So  you  see  I  did  my  duty." 

And  he  uttered  this  conclusion  in  a  manner  that 
showed  him  satisfied  in  his  conscience  that  he  had  done 
what  was  right. 

Three  months  later  I  visited  the  American  hospital 
in  Munich,  a  hospital  for  German  wounded  run  on  funds 
collected  in  the  United  States.  In  one  of  the  rooms 
I  talked  with  three  convalescents,  all  of  them  getting 
on  well  enough  to  be  on  their  feet.  In  those  days  I  was 
still  making  up  my  mind  from  a  first-hand  comparison 
of  both  sides  as  to  the  merits  of  the  war.  I  chatted 
pleasantly  with  the  three  men,  particularly  with  one 
of  them — a  short,  stocky  chap,  who  was  of  a  much  more 
talkative  nature  than  his  companions.  I  was  actually 
saying  to  myself  that  surely  this  fellow  could  be  guilty 
of  no  atrocities.  He  seemed  so  good  natured.  But  a 
story  which  he  insisted  on  telling,  despite  the  efforts 
of  the  nurse  to  hurry  me  along,  caused  me  to  alter  my 
opinion. 

"We  Germans  stand  no  nonsense,  Herr  Korrespond- 
ent,"  he  began.  "I  will  tell  you  something  to  let  you 
know  that  we  mean  business.  It  was  so  funny.  In  the 
early  days  I  was  with  our  company  on  the  march  in 
the  Vosges  Mountains  when  we  came  to  a  wood  at  noon. 
While  we  were  casting  about  to  eat  our  mid-day  meal,  we 
came  upon  a  French  priest  concealed  in  the  bushes. 
Our  officers  quickly  decided  that  he  was  a  spy  and  to 
please  us  men  after  we  had  eaten,  they  turned  him  over 
to  us  and  told  us  to  dispose  of  him  as  we  saw  fit." 

The  man's  eyes  glowed  with  the  memories  called  up 
by  the  story.     "We  tied  a  rope  around  his  neck,"  he 


298  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

continued,  "and  threw  it  over  the  limb  of  a  tree.  This 
done,  some  of  the  boys  pulled  on  the  rope,  and  the 
priest's  feet  left  the  ground.  Then  one  of  my  comrades 
rushed  up  and  thrust  his  bayonet  into  the  priest's  stom- 
ach, crying,  'So  die  all  enemies  of  the  Fatherland!' 
The  rest  of  us  being  near,  also  began  to  jab  him  with 
our  bayonets  while  he  went  higher  and  higher  as  the 
others  pulled  on  the  rope.  Then  we  had  a  jumping 
contest  as  we  cried,  'Higher!  Higher!'  to  see  which 
one  of  us  could  be  the  last  to  stick  our  bayonet  into  the 
priest" 

I  make  different  deductions  from  these  two  stories. 
The  one  of  the  priest  shows  sheer  brutality  in  the  nar- 
rator and  those  of  his  companions  who  acted  and  thought 
as  he  did.  It  furthermore  reflects  unfavourably  upon 
the  oflScers  who  condoned  it,  even  though  they  did  not 
order  it.  Apparently  they  knew  their  men  sufiiciently 
well  to  be  aware  of  just  what  sort  of  post-prandial 
amusement  would  delight  them  most. 

Hacking  the  old  woman  in  Sabac  contained  a  germ  of 
difference.  In  it,  I  realised  later,  I  had  witnessed  my 
first  war-time  example  of  the  fruits  of  German  educa- 
tion. The  code  is  that  anything  done  in  the  name  of 
the  Fatherland  is  correct.  A  man  can  be  educated 
in  a  certain  way  so  that  he  will  wipe  out  "crawling  ver- 
minous pests  of  his  country"  with  as  little  compunction 
as  a  farmer  would  rid  his  field  of  potato  bugs. 

I  have  seen  enough  of  this  phase  of  war-psychology 
to  fill  volumes.  It  finds  its  greatest  expression  in  the 
scientifically  fostered  hatred  of  the  Germans  for  the 
English.  Early  in  the  war,  I  once  asked  a  German 
school  girl  if  she  thought  it  would  be  right  for  a  Zep- 
pelin to  go  over  London  and  kill  women  and  children. 


THOU  SHALT  KILL  299 

She  opened  her  eyes  in  amazement  that  I  should  put 
such  an  absurd  question.  "Why  not?"  she  exclaimed. 
"Anything  is  right  against  the  English."  And  she 
looked  perfectly  sweet  when  she  said  it. 

At  the  end  of  the  first  week  of  October,  1914,  while 
crossing  Germany,  I  had  a  wait  of  an  hour  at  the  busy 
railroad  junction  of  Lohne.  Antwerp  was  likely  to  fall 
any  day,  the  war  was  young,  and  the  passengers  wait- 
ing on  the  platform  for  various  trains,  talked  of  nothing 
but  German  victories,  past  and  future. 

A  train  rolled  in  from  the  direction  of  Cologne,  and 
when  those  on  the  platform  saw  the  car  windows  filled 
with  British  prisoners,  most  of  whom  appeared  to  be 
wounded,  they  clustered  around  it  like  flies.  An  ugly 
feeling  quickly  developed  at  sight  of  the  English,  while 
abuse  flew  thick  and  fast  from  wildly-gesticulating  ci- 
vilians who  were  permitted  to  go  right  up  to  the  win- 
dows. 

A  German  unter-offizier  who  formed  one  of  the  guard 
aboard  the  train  came  out,  and,  standing  conspicuously 
upon  the  car  steps,  cried,  "Do  you  know  what  kind  of 
enemies  we  are  fighting  ?  Well,  I  will  show  you.  This 
is  what  they  use  against  brave  German  soldiers  in  order 
to  tear  and  mutilate  their  bodies.     Do  you  see  these  ?" 

He  held  up  a  clip  of  cartridges  whose  steel  noses  had 
been  cut  off  so  as  to  expose  the  lead  beneath.  "These 
are  dum-dum  bullets !"  he  cried. 

It  was  natural  that  the  onlookers  should  be  enraged 
at  sight  of  bullets  which  would  leave  a  German  soldier 

"With  a  big  blue  mark  on  his  forehead, 
And  the  back  blown  out  of  his  head." 


30O  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

The  platform  became  an  uproar.  Some  struck  with 
their  canes  at  the  Tommies  standing  in  the  windows. 
Unable  to  reach  the  prisoners  from  the  outside,  one  man, 
brandishing  his  stick,  rushed  into  the  train,  while  the 
unter-offizier  stepped  deferentially  aside.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  another,  and  then  another.  I  could  see  men 
and  women  spitting  on  the  prisoners  until  some  of  these 
were  leaning  out  of  the  windows  again,  because  of  the 
pressure  in  the  corridors  within. 

In  the  excitement  I  talked  hastily  with  two  of  these, 
but  was  interrupted  when  the  engine  whistled  to  go 
ahead,  and  the  train  was  cleared  to  pull  out  through 
a  jeering  crowd.  The  spectacle  of  seeing  prisoners 
beaten — ^particularly  wounded  men — ^had  not  been  edi- 
fying, but  in  the  beginning  I  partly  excused  the  Ger- 
mans on  the  ground  that  they  had  great  provocation 
in  the  visible  evidence  of  the  dum-dum  bullets. 

In  my  brief  conversation  with  the  two  Tommies, 
however,  I  had  learned  a  detail  of  which  the  crowd  was 
ignorant.  This  little  detail  was  that  the  exhibitor  of 
the  dum-dimis  had  taken  clips  of  perfectly  good  cart- 
ridges from  the  prisoners  and  had  the  audacity  de- 
liberately to  mutilate  them  before  their  very  eyes. 
They  hoped  that  the  journey  would  soon  be  over  inas- 
much as  the  unter-offizier  performed  the  same  act  every 
time  the  train  stopped. 

What  I  had  witnessed  was  undoubtedly  a  volun- 
tary piece  of  work  in  the  hate  campaign  against 
England.  The  idea  probably  originated  with  the  unter- 
offizier  and  not  with  the  German  Government.  That 
the  latter  was  not  likely  to  object,  however,  is  evidenced 
by  the  fact  that  the  usual  stringent  platform  regula- 
tions were  suspended,  while  the  higher  officers  in  charge 


THOU  SHALT  KILL  301] 

of  the  train  did  notliing  to  keep  the  crowd  under  con- 
trol. Discipline  is  so  rigid  in  the  German  army  that 
the  unter-offizier  would  not  have  dared  take  a  chance 
without  the  support  of  his  superiors. 

Some  of  my  readers  may  remember  the  surfeit  of 
spy  stories  and  execution  stories  of  the  first  month  of 
the  war.  There  were  so  many  exaggerations  that  later 
when  spy  executions  became  only  occasional  events,  most 
people  began  to  feel  that  all  the  stories  were  myths. 
This  is  not  true.  The  spy-wave  of  the  first  few  weeks 
in  the  Central  Powers  is  a  definite  link  in  the  Ger- 
man chain  of  war-making. 

Four  years  ago  I  wrote  of  how  I  was  taken  out  in 
the  moonlight  in  the  Hungarian  mountains  behind 
Brasso  by  a  band  of  Szeckler  peasants  who  had  decided 
to  shoot  me  as  a  Serbian  spy.  For  a  long  time  I  sim- 
ply attributed  their  attempt  to  an  over-zealous  and 
terrified  mood,  but  with  the  passing  of  months  and 
years,  I  discovered  in  Germany  that  the  affair  was  far 
more  than  a  mere  isolated  personal  experience. 

In  the  first  four  weeks  of  the  war,  something  over 
four  hundred  Germans  and  a  considerable  number  of 
Austro-Hungarians  were  shot  as  spies  by  mistake.  The 
shootings,  let  me  add,  were  not  official — although  this 
is  cold  comfort  to  the  shootees. 

One  day  in  Bremen,  for  example,  an  excited  patriot 
pointed  to  a  workman  repairing  the  wiring  on  a  high 
roof  opposite  the  Rathaus.  "Look!"  he  exclaimed,  "he 
is  sending  wireless  messages  to  Russia."  The  over- 
whelming desire  to  do  something  for  his  beloved  Father- 
land impelled  him  to  fetch  his  rifle,  with  which  he 
took  deliberate  aim  and  dropped  the  workman  to  the 
street.     When  he  later  explained  to  the  police  that  he 


302   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

thoTiglit  lie  was  shooting  a  dangerous  spy  he  was  dia- 
missed. 

Automobilists  in  the  rural  regions  led  a  particularly 
perilous  life.  Among  the  many  rumours  agitating  the 
Teuton  mind  was  the  widely-credited  yam  that  France 
was  sending  gold  to  Russia  in  automobiles  through  Ger- 
many. That  the  German  people  believed  this  absurdity 
furnishes  us  with  some  criterion  of  their  state  of  mind. 
!N^umbers  of  farmers,  most  of  whom  were  members  of 
shooting  VereinSj  used  to  sit  at  crossroads,  rifle  in  hand, 
to  challenge  automobilists.  Indeed,  in  a  great  number 
of  cases,  they  sniped  suspected  ones. 

The  authorities  not  only  permitted  this,  but  en- 
couraged it.  Always  practical  they  decided  that  a 
device  which  sacrificed  a  few  hundred  subjects  was  a 
good  device  if  it  increased  the  war  spirit  of  many  mil- 
lions. So  they  placarded  Germany  with  rewards  for 
spies,  which  they  said  filled  the  Fatherland.  They 
did  this  for  two  reasons.  First,  to  add  conviction  to 
their  charges  that  a  ring  of  jealous  enemies  had  brought 
about  the  war,  and  secondly  to  arouse  the  anger  of  the 
people.  Indeed,  hatred  is  considered  by  the  German 
leaders  to  be  the  motive  force  in  empire  building. 

I  was  so  impressed  with  the  significance  of  this  that 
I  described  it  in  detail  in  my  earlier  volume.  As  time 
goes  on,  I  feel  its  significance  even  more.  The  German 
peoples,  with  some  notable  exceptions,  are  submissive 
to  authority  and  easily  led.  It  is  my  belief  that  they 
could  have  been  led  along  good  paths  just  as  readily 
as  along  bad. 

Without  going  into  archaeology  and  genealogy — 
which  might  be  needlessly  confusing — we  can  take  as 
the  most  conspicuous  exception   a  type   of   Prussian 


THOU  SHALT  KILL  303 

found  in  Berlin  and  eastward.  It  is  this  type  which 
dominates  the  rest — a  type  with  neck  and  cranium  ap- 
proximately the  same  diameter  and  heavy  jowls  nearly 
twice  as  broad.  He  is  a  Hindenburg,  not  a  Goethe,  a 
Schiller,  a  Mozart,  a  Strauss,  an  Ehrlich  or  an  Anton 
Lang.  The  type  is  seldom  seen  among  Americans  of 
German  descent,  since  it  had  little  occasion  to  leave 
the  land  it  dominated. 

Most  human  beings  are  a  combination  of  the  animal 
and  the  spiritual;  with  civilisation  tending  to  sub- 
ordinate the  animal.  In  the  dominating  Prussian  caste, 
however,  the  animal  is  always  the  master — which  ex- 
plains why  this  type  believes  in  force  and  respects  only 
force,  and  is  totally  unable  to  grasp  certain  psychologi- 
cal traits  in  other  people.  During  its  migratory  stage 
in  remote  ages  it  probably  lost  its  sense  of  humour  some- 
where in  Masurian  bogs.  It  is  only  because  the  major- 
ity of  the  Germans  have  fallen  under  the  sway,  physical 
and  thence  moral,  of  the  brutish  minority  that  they  have 
become  a  menace  and  not  a  helpful  neighbour  in  the 
community  of  nations. 

For  three  generations  the  growing  millions  of  Ger- 
many have  been  moulded  by  the  "blond  beast"  of 
!ffietzsche.  If  the  process  continues,  for  three  or  five 
or  ten  generations,  they  can  not  escape  being  Irretrieva- 
bly coarsened,  however  much  mechanical  efficiency  they 
may  develop.  It  is  this  which  caused  one  lovable 
South  German  professor  with  whom  I  confidentially 
discussed  the  matter  to  express  his  deep-seated  convic- 
tion that  his  countrymen  can  be  saved  in  the  higher 
sense  only  through  a  defeat  which  wiU  obliterate  the 
fetish  of  militarism. 

The  hate  lectures  which  I  heard  delivered  by  Ger- 


304  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

man  professors  were  not  casual  fragments  of  oratory, 
but  a  studied  part  of  the  plan  to  make  warriors  of  all 
Germans  through  ihe  instrument  of  education.  In  their 
leaders'  conception  the  world  tends  towards  pacifistic 
decay,  a  decay  in  which  "Thou  shall  not  kill"  becomes 
an  ever  clearer  guiding  post.  Therefore,  in  their  opin- 
ion, if  one  nation  can  preserve  the  old  instincts  of  battle, 
it  can  conquer  the  rest.  That  is  why  I  never  expect  the 
present  leaders  of  Germany  to  exercise  any  great  re- 
straint upon  their  subjects'  giving  vent  to  their  pas- 
sions when  among  their  enemies. 

Linked  closely  to  all  this  is  intimidation,  a  quality 
which  not  only  persists  in  Germany  but  is  being  further 
developed.  That  it  long  ago  had  official  sanction  is 
especially  clear  from  the  Kaiser's  speech  at  Bremer- 
hafen  on  July  27,  1900,  to  his  troops  departing  for 
China  to  suppress  the  Boxer  uprising. 

"You  now  go  forth  to  fight  against  a  well-armed  and 
cruel  enemy.  When  you  come  in  contact  with  the 
enemy,  strike  him  down.  Quarter  is  not  to  be  given. 
Prisoners  are  not  to  be  made.  Whoever  falls  into  your 
hands,  will  be  at  your  mercy. 

"Just  as  a  thousand  years  ago  the  Huns,  under  the 
leadership  of  Attila,  gained  a  reputation  by  which  they 
still  live  in  historical  tradition,  so  may  the  German 
name  be  known  in  such  a  fashion  in  China  that  no 
Chinaman  will  ever  dare  again  look  askance  at  a  Ger- 
man. The  blessing  of  the  Lord  be  upon  you!  The 
prayers  of  the  whole  nation  and  my  earnest  wishes  ac- 
company each  of  you.  Open  the  path  for  culture  once 
for  all." 

Fourteen  years  later  I  heard  my  first  details  of  the 
massacre  of  Louvain — and  I  got  them  not  in  Belgium, 


THOU  SHALT  KILL  305 

Britain  or  in  France,  but  in  Germany.  At  noon,  on 
the  2(i  of  September,  1914,  an  American  friend  and 
I  went  into  the  open  court  of  the  Zollernhof  restaurant 
after  the  wildly-cheered  Sedan  Day  procession  had 
passed  down  Unter  den  Linden.  We  managed  to 
jump  into  two  seats  in  the  crowded  restaurant  at  a  large 
table,  and  were  soon  in  conversation  with  the  Germans 
gathered  at  it.  The  war  was  in  its  infancy,  Germany 
seemed  irresistible,  and  consequently  nearly  every  Ger- 
man insisted  upon  airing  "war  secrets"  with  every  one 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 

One  of  the  men  took  a  letter  from  his  pocket,  which 
he  proudly  read.  It  was  from  his  son  and  written  be- 
fore the  authorities  realised  the  importance  of  tighten- 
ing up  the  censorship  at  the  Front.  All  details  were 
set  down  in  an  interesting,  boyish  way  from  the  time 
the  company  entrained  at  Berlin  until  the  time  it  was 
billeted  at  the  Hue  de  la  Station  in  Louvain.  The 
lad  then  went  on  to  describe  how  the  company  was 
aroused  after  dark  and  told  that  Belgian  civilians  were 
killing  German  soldiers  in  the  street.  They  were  then 
assigned  a  definite  nearby  district  in  which  they  were 
ordered  to  round  up  from  cellar  to  garret  every  male 
from  fifteen  to  sixty.  These  were  taken  to  the  square 
before  the  Station  where  the  boy  saw  some  of  them 
shot.  He  believed  that  many  more  of  them  were  shot 
later.  "It  seemed  terrible,  father,"  he  concluded. 
"But  our  ofiicers  said  it  was  more  humane  to  be  strict 
at  the  beginning  and  by  making  an  example  of  a  few 
towns  the  rest  would  more  readily  obey." 

Some  apologists  for  Germany  say  that  there  are 
ruffians  in  all  countries  and  in  all  armies.  Granted, 
but  we  should  distinguish  between  a  Government  which 


3o6  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

aims  at  ideals  and  seeks  to  diminisli  criminal  tendencies 
among  its  people,  and  a  Government  which  in  itself  is 
criminal.  The  nation  with  the  first  may  have  consider- 
ahle  house-cleaning  to  do ;  but,  at  any  rate,  it  can  work 
towards  the  highest  civilisation.  On  the  other  hand,  a 
nation  led  by  criminals  can  not  escape  becoming  de- 
based unless  it  develops  a  new  kind  of  leadership. 

Suppose  for  example  that  the  President  of  the  United 
States  went  over  to  Hoboken  and  made  a  speech  to  de- 
parting troops  after  the  manner  of  Wilhelm's  "Huns- 
of-Attila"  speech!  Suppose  that  one  of  our  ambassa- 
dors brought  forth  in  the  course  of  a  war  such  as  this 
irrefutable  accusation  that  the  President  and  his  Cabi- 
net, in  connivance  with  another  power,  had  deliberately 
willed  the  war  and  were  entirely  responsible  for  it! 
Suppose  that  to  further  their  selfish  ends  they  planned 
murder  and  arson  among  nations  at  peace  with  us! 
Suppose  that  our  governing  officials  wished  to  remain 
in  the  good  graces  of  some  small  neutral  nation  while 
at  the  same  time  they  considered  it  advantageous  to 
sink  the  ships  of  that  nation !  In  order  to  do  both  they 
would  smile  into  the  faces  of  the  little  nation's  diplo- 
mats while  behind  the  backs  of  these  they  would  order 
their  sailors  to  destroy  so  completely  the  neutral  vessel 
and  its  crew  that  there  would  be  no  trace  left  upon  the 
land  or  the  sea  to  tell  of  the  crime — this  despite  the 
fact  that  in  all  history  of  war  up  to  the  twentieth  cerir 
tury  there  is  not  a  single  case  of  a  neutral  ship  being 
destroyed  by  a  belligerent  on  the  high  seas.  Suppose 
in  short  that  the  American  President  and  his  Cabinet 
had  committed  act  after  act  which  resulted  in  most  of 
the  world  being  leagued  against  us!     Knowing  this, 


THOU  SHALT  KILL  307 

would  we  back  up  such  a  set  of  oflScials  and  perpetuate 
their  policy? 

Consider  this  question  well,  for  the  overwhelming 
majority  of  the  subjects  of  the  Hohenzollems  are  still 
answering  it  in  the  affirmative.  They  are  doing  so 
partly  because  they  are  duped,  partly  because  they 
have  grown  "patriotically"  calloused  to  the  rest  of 
mankind,  and  partly  to  escape  the  staggering  taxation 
consequent  upon  defeat.     Such  is  our  enemy. 

There  are  some  well-meaning  souls  among  us  who 
feel  that  though  Germany  should  be  defeated  we  should 
strive  to  enable  the  German  people  to  escape  the  ter- 
rible financial  burdens  of  the  war,  once  they  see  the 
error  of  their  ways.  If  such  persons  can  devise  any 
practical  method  of  combining  the  two,  their  place  is 
at  the  head  of  a  new  kind  of  natural  laws  and  finance. 

If  a  man  who  became  an  inebriate  at  twenty  swears 
off  at  thirty,  he  has  done  something  commendable  and 
hopeful  in  the  change.  The  remainder  of  his  life  will 
be  better  for  it  But  can  he  logically  expect  that  the 
change  of  heart  will  automatically  enable  him  to  be 
unaffected  by  ten  drunken  years  ?  By  a  parity  of  rea- 
soning can  the  German  people  leap  joyously  into  a  war 
which  promises  early  victory  and  abundant  loot,  destroy 
and  kill  until  they  realise  that  they  have  bitten  off  more 
than  they  can  chew,  then  cry  quits  and  expect  to  start 
life  again  as  if  nothing  had  happened?  Unless  they 
win  sweepingly  they  cannot  do  so  even  though  all  the 
nations  that  they  have  forced  to  pour  out  blood  and 
treasure  in  self-preservation  should  wipe  the  slate  clean 
of  the  bill  against  them.    . 

Most  of  the  belligerents  will  be  reeling  under  a  war 
debt  with  the  coming  of  peace,  with  the  attendant  in- 


3o8  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

temational  complications  of  settling  gigantic  foreign 
loans.  The  Germans,  however,  boast  that  their  money 
has  circulated  in  their  own  country — that  they  merely 
owe  themselves.  Very  well.  Let  us  take  the  hypothet- 
ical extreme  of  a  defeated  people  refusing  to  pay 
themselves.  Suppose  they  should  throw  the  whole  Em- 
pire into  the  melting  pot  and  transform  a  highly  mili- 
taristic socialism  into  a  highly  organised  peace  social- 
ism. Or,  falling  short  of  such  an  extreme,  suppose 
that  the  German  people  some  day  merely  rid  themselves 
of  ih»  international  outlaws  who  rule  them  and  so  lib- 
eralise their  institutions  that  they  no  longer  plot  destruc- 
tion and  dissension  abroad !  In  brief,  suppose  they  de- 
velop some  kind  of  a  democracy  that  doesn't  need  con- 
stant watching  with  a  gun ! 

Then  will  certain  circles  of  I-told-you-so's  in  England 
and  America  insist  to  the  rest  of  us  that  it  was  the  Ger- 
man people  themselves  who  effected  the  change,  and 
they  will  probably  add  that  if  we  had  but  trusted  them 
to  arrange  their  own  affairs,  we  might  have  been  spared 
rivers  of  blood  and  torrents  of  tears. 

For  myself  I  have  seen  the  Empire  on  the  march  and 
I  know  that  a  change  from  within  can  only  be  stimulated 
by  a  force  from  without  such  as  the  world  has  never 
known.  Should  the  change  come,  I  shall  rejoice.  But 
I  shall  insist  upon  giving  the  credit  to  whom  credit  is 
due. 

I  would  turn  back  through  memory's  galleries  to  look 
upon  men  and  women  toiling  in  clanging  foundries  and 
beehives  of  Allied  war-activity ;  and  I'd  see  mile  on  mile 
of  trenches  where  men  live  and  suffer  and  die.  For 
week  on  week  I  would  cheer  the  returning  troops  could 
they  all  tramp  past  in  grand  review;  and  I  would  stand 


THOU  SHALT  KILL  309 

with  uncovered  head  while  after  them  the  miles  of 
lorries  filled  with  human  wreckage  rolled.  But  in 
honouring  the  living  I  would  not  be  unmindful  of  the 
dead.  Beneath  many  skies  I  saw  them  march  away,  and 
I  saw  them  fight;  and  in  fancy  I  would  wish  to  see 
them  once  again  as  they  rise  in  hosts  from  the  slime 
by  the  Yser  river  and  the  slopes  above  the  Mouse. 
From  Poland's  plain  to  Picardy  I  would  see  them  all 
and  in  reverence  bow  my  head.  And  I'd  see,  too,  the 
men  that  went  down  in  the  little  ships  that  swept  the 
sea  lanes  clear. 

It  is  upon  such  as  these  and  not  upon  the  people  of 
Germany  that  gratitude  should  be  heaped  with  the 
breaking  of  the  dawn. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE   QUICKSANDS 

THE  Imperial  German  Govermnent  has  spun  its 
web  of  informants  around  the  globe;  yet  despite 
its  unbounded  sources  of  information  it  has  committed 
calamitous  blunders  on  seemingly  simple  points.  It 
has  heaped  up  statistics  concerning  the  material  of  other 
nations,  while  it  has  blindly  insisted  on  ignoring  their 
temperaments. 

Were  the  world  solely  materialistic  Germany  would 
have  won  decisively  because  of  her  early  scientific  ex- 
ploitation of  all  things  tangible.  She  has  failed  to  win 
because  her  conduct  has  aroused  moral  forces  sufficient 
to  stimulate  the  creation  of  enough  material  forces  to 
balance  her  own.  She  will  lose  when  we  have  further 
increased  our  material  forces  until  they  overbalance 
hers.  Since,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  it  is  physically 
possible  for  us  to  do  this,  Germany's  obviously  sane 
course  would  be  to  try  every  device  which  might  reduce 
our  stimulus  to  create. 

In  the  fifth  year  of  an  exhausting  struggle  it  is  nec- 
essary for  both  sides  to  plan  every  move  with  the  studied 
consideration  of  the  expert  in  chess.  I^either  can  af- 
ford a  really  bad  play  now.  There  must  come  a  time 
when  the  German  leaders  will  see  themselves  reduced 
to  a  limited  number  of  possible  moves;  and  at  such  a 
'time  a  Prince  Billow  would  prove  infinitely  more  dan- 

310 


THE  QUICKSANDS  31  z 

gerous  to  the  Allies  than  a  Tirpltz  or  a  Ludendorff. 
The  main  trend  of  an  indefinite  period  of  history  may 
conceivably  be  determined  by  whatever  type  of  man 
is  in  the  graces  of  the  Kaiser  at  the  last  great  forking 
of  the  road. 

In  considering  Germany's  chances  let  us  take  the 
hypothetical  case  of  William  H  visualising  both  sides 
through  eyes  that  have  looked  on  both  in  Europe  and 
America.  Suppose  that  through  such  vision  he  could 
so  completely  deprussianise  himself  that  he  could  un- 
derstand the  soul  of  other  peoples.  Suppose  that  he 
could  lay  aside  for  the  time  his  bombastic  Deity  part- 
nership utterances  and  some  night  in  the  long  grey 
palace  by  the  Spree  calmly  weigh  up  his  chances  after 
silence  had  fallen  on  Berlin,  a  silence  broken  for  him 
only  by  the  hob-nailed  measured  footfalls  before  the 
black  and  white  striped  sentry  box  outside. 

From  my  own  observations  I  would  have  him  weigh 
his  chances  thus: 

I  have  at  stake  two  mighty  heritages — ^my  Empire 
and  my  House.  Always  have  I  earnestly  sought  to  en- 
hance the  power  of  both ;  so  to  link  them  that  they  would 
be  inseparable,  invincible.  It  may  now  be  wisdom  for 
me  to  limit  the  one  that  I  may  increase  the  other.  Let 
me  consider  the  chief  weapons  of  the  war  that  I  may 
compare  mine  with  those  of  my  enemies  as  they  exist 
in  this  fifth  autumn  of  the  struggle.  These  are  first, 
military,  which  includes  the  army  and  the  navy;  sec- 
ond, economic  strength  which  enables  each  side  to  hold 
out;  third,  diplomacy,  the  instrument  for  maintaining 
unity  at  home  and  creating  dissension  abroad. 

^Neither  side  can  win  through  the  first  until  it  has  a 


312  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

preponderance  of  men  and  material.  Such  preponder- 
ance might  not  only  be  gained  by  positive  increase,  but 
in  a  negative  way  by  impairing  through  blockade  the 
economic  life  of  the  other  side.  My  enemies  can  con- 
tinue to  develop  their  striking  power  from  the  reservoir 
of  th«  United  States,  while  my  only  remaining  source 
is  Russia.  Conditions  there  are  such,  however,  that 
they  do  not  permit  me  to  add  to  my  military  machine 
sufficiently  to  enable  it  to  bring  victory  through  great 
offensives.  The  Russians  who  are  willing  to  fight  for 
me  are  few.  To  dragoon  great  numbers  and  put  them 
into  the  line  would  be  to  transfer  Tannenberg  to  the 
Western  front — save  that  it  is  the  enemy  who  could 
hang  out  the  flags. 

For  defensive  purposes,  on  the  contrary,  the  Rus- 
sians are  highly  useful  in  the  colossal  work  they  can  be 
directed  to  perform  in  the  rear  of  the  fighting.  By 
utilising  them  and  other  impressed  labour  we  can 
strengthen  line  behind  line  of  defence  which  must  be 
successively  stormed  by  my  enemies  under  heavy  losses, 
while  their  advances  must  always  be  over  country  which 
we  hare  devastated  as  we  fall  back. 

If  we  could  for  a  long  time  successfully  maintain  a 
stubborn  defence  we  could  undoubtedly  continue  to  sink 
more  of  Britain's  tonnage  than  she  can  replace,  even 
though  construction  of  world  tonnage  somewhat  exceeds 
destruction.  This  accomplishment  of  my  U-boats  must 
arouse  bitter  thoughts  among  an  island  people  whose 
world  greatness  is  the  sea.  Coupled  with  this  the  heavy 
losses  piled  up  by  the  enemy  in  attacking  our  fortified 
lines  would  be  distasteful,  especially  to  the  French  who 
now  see  clearly  the  importance  of  man  power  in  the 
industrial  and  commercial  struggle  after  the  war — ^a 


THE  QUICKSANDS  313 

struggle  into  which  each  nation  •will  be  driven  in  order 
to  survive  the  leaden  heritage  of  Armageddon's  debt. 

Such  enemy  discomfort  is  for  us  the  brighter  aspect. 
There  is  indeed  a  darker  side.  Can  we  continue  a  long 
successful  defence  ?  If  we  were  economically  but  little 
inferior  to  our  enemies,  yes.  But  unfortunately  we 
have  long  since  fallen  to  a  level  far  below  them.  Utilis- 
ing every  scrap  of  material,  native  and  imported,  we 
have  been  enabled  to  hold  out.  But  should  the  limit 
be  reached  we  may  crack  rapidly  owing  to  the  fact  that 
we  shall  have  used  up  all  our  reserves  of  various  sup- 
plies. It  is  the  economic  shortage  which  causes  me 
most  anxiety,  for  in  a  material  way  it  is  certain  seri- 
ously to  cripple  my  armies  in  the  race  for  preponder- 
ance of  military  machinery,  while  at  the  same  time  it 
slowly  impairs  the  morale  of  the  troops  and  the  civilian 
population — a  morale  maintained  only  through  hope  of 
ultimate  victory.  The  terrible  truth  is  that  we  are  like 
a  walnut  which  is  slowly  decaying  inside.  The  shell 
is  still  strong  but  we  must  give  it  the  appearance  of 
even  greater  strength  to  our  enemies. 

Since  I  now  see  clearly  that  for  the  present,  at  least, 
we  can  no  longer  conquer  in  all  directions,  it  is  well  to 
face  this  bitter  realisation  to  ascertain  what  I  can  still 
hold  and  the  concessions  which  I  must  make  to  hold  it. 

Herein  lies  a  difficulty  which  is  not  generally  under- 
stood by  an  outside  world  which  is  prone  to  look  upon 
me  as  absolute  and  therefore  able  to  switch  the  whole 
empire  along  any  desired  course.  Unfortunately  this 
is  not  entirely  true.  Like  my  ancestors  I  have  ruled  ab- 
solute through  the  good-will  of  my  great  military  Junk- 
ers. I  am  always  able  to  oppose  and  crush  any  individ- 
uals among  them,  but  it  would  be  calamitous  to  attempt 


314  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

to  obstruct  any  line  of  national  policy  upon  which  they 
are  collectively  agreed.  They  are  so  dominated  by  the 
spirit  of  rule  by  caste  that  they  will  fight  to  the  end  to 
maintain  their  ancient  privileges.  They  will  be  suc- 
cessful, as  always,  unless  there  comes  a  time  when  my 
subjects'  hopes  begin  to  wane  in  the  deepening  shadow  of 
defeat.  The  masses  may  then  be  goaded  to  demand  two 
things — first,  a  real  share  in  the  government,  and  then 
a  definite  statement  of  peace  terms. 

Because  of  such  possibility  it  might  be  well  not  to 
delay  too  long.  One  of  my  great  fears  is  that  my  Junk- 
ers may  obstinately  refuse  all  concessions  to  the  people 
to  the  point  that  our  unity  would  be  broken  in  the  last 
stages.  If,  however,  they  should  agree  to  equal  suf- 
frage in  Prussia  there  would  probably  be  but  little  real 
change  in  our  method  of  government  as  it  affects  world 
policy.  Bavaria  has  equal  suffrage,  and  have  not  her 
sons  fought  just  as  fiercely  as  my  Prussians  to  extend 
my  frontiers  ?  Are  there  any, — with  the  possible  ex- 
ception of  my  most  learned  professors, — who  have 
hurled  more  violent  tirades  against  the  English  than 
has  Crown  Prince  Rupert  of  Bavaria  ?  Or  could  any- 
body defend  more  ardently  my  divine  right  to  rule  than 
Keichskanzler  Hertling,  a  Bavarian? 

So,  too,  in  the  matter  of  the  rearrangement  of  Reichs- 
tag districts  according  to  population.  By  this  conces- 
sion our  class  power  would  be  slightly  impaired  but  not 
seriously  damaged — always  provided  that  we  maintain 
the  Bundesrat*  (which  is  appointed  by  myself  and  my 
co-sovereigns)  and  do  not  make  ministerial  offices  sub- 
ject to  real  control  by  the  Reichstag. 

I  fear  that  nothing  short  of  an  early  impending  de- 

*  See  chapter  IL 


THE  QUICKSANDS  315 

feat  would  cause  my  Junkers  to  see  the  light  sufficiently 
to  make  these  concessions.  Yet  if  they  should  do  so  in 
time  and  with  grace  my  people  would  be  so  flattered 
that  we  should  have  a  new  period  of  that  unity  which  is 
essential  to  success.  Moreover,  important  circles  among 
our  enemies  would  receive  the  impression  that  Germany 
had  accomplished  great  strides  towards  democracy — an 
impression  which  should  make  some  of  our  subsequent 
moves  far  less  difficult. 

Behind  this  smoke  cloud  of  democracy  we  could  com- 
plete the  plans  for  our  diplomatic  offensive.  At  this 
point  looms  another  great  internal  difficulty.  My  Junk- 
ers and  my  Great  Industrialists  are  so  imbued  with  one 
highly  developed  trait  of  the  bull  that  in  the  more  deli- 
cate manoeuvres  they  are  hopelessly  lost.  That  trait 
is  the  lowering  of  the  head  once  an  objective  is  sighted 
and  crashing  unswervingly  at  it.  This  method  is  often 
annihilatingly  successful,  but  from  now  on  it  will  spell 
disaster  for  us  if  persisted  in. 

Both  my  Junkers  and  my  Great  Industrialists  desire 
a  peace  with  conquests  and  indemnities  and  will  fight 
for  it  to  the  end,  unless  they  can  be  made  to  see  in  time 
that  the  people  will  not  support  such  plans  when  the 
grip  of  our  enemies  becomes  too  tight.  Another  of  my 
great  fears  is  that  they  will  refuse  to  modify  their  ex- 
treme demands  until  we  have  little  left  to  bargain  with. 
Most  of  Junkerdom  always  feared  the  growing  power 
of  Russia  and  wished  a  war  which  would  so  cripple  her 
that  not  only  would  our  own  great  landed  estates  in  the 
east  of  Prussia  be  secured,  but  new  acquisitions  could 
be  made  at  the  expense  of  Russia.  This  is  an  industrial 
age,  however,  and  the  Great  Industrialists  in  the  past 
score  of  years  have  begun  to  develop  a  power  in  the 


3i6  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Empire  which  is  becoming  even  greater  than  that  of 
the  Junker.  iN^ow,  although  the  former  like  the  Junkers 
wish  the  East  they  insist  also  upon  the  West.  While 
the  semblance  of  a  chance  of  victory  remains  they  will 
refuse  to  yield  the  occupied  iron  districts  of  Erance, 
also  Belgium  with  the  coast  of  Flanders. 

If,  however,  we  can  put  our  internal  house  in  order 
regarding  war  aims  we  can  next  consider  by  what  prac- 
tical methods  of  strategy  we  can  out-general  our  enemies 
on  the  field  of  politics.  We  have  some  very  bad  cards 
and  some  very  excellent  ones.  Our  trunk  line  of  pol- 
icy must  be  to  gain  control  of  the  East. 

In  any  event  we  shall  be  first  in  trade  with  Russia, 
for  our  geographical  and  other  natural  advantages  will 
insdre  our  pre-eminence.  We  can  do  this  with  fair 
trade.  But  we  desire  very  much  more  than  fair  trade. 
We  must  enact  commercial  treaties  with  the  several  Rua- 
sias  which  will  compel  the  people  to  buy  necessities 
from  us  at  our  prices.  The  East  will  make  German 
economic  strength  convalescent  until  it  becomes  the  old 
strength  which  will  encircle  the  globe. 

The  very  opposite  of  this  would  be  the  realisation 
by  the  enemy  of  President  Wilson's  aim  that  all  Poland 
be  reconstituted  with  a  Polish  port.  I  wonder  how 
much  sentiment  there  is  in  America  for  such  a  pro- 
gramme? There  is  certainly  little  understanding  of 
it  among  the  majority  of  the  people.  Why,  even  the 
compilers  of  their  school  geographies  unwittingly  helped 
us  by  invariably  printing  the  word  P-0-L-A-N-D  across 
only  a  corner  of  Russia  and  having  none  of  the  let- 
ters fall  on  the  map  sections  marked  Germany  and  Aus- 
tria.    Theref  ro  most  Americans  have  grown  up  una- 


THE  QUICKSANDS  317 

ware  that  the  majority  of  the  population  of  certain 
regions  of  Germanj  and  Austria  are  Poles. 

We  will  of  course  fight  to  the  last  to  prevent  being 
dismembered  to  form  a  united  Poland.  This  is  a  de- 
cidedly more  important  matter  with  us  than  the  reten- 
tion of  Alsace-Lorraine.  I  agree  with  Bismarck  when 
he  said:  "Any  arrangement  likely  to  satisfy  Poland 
in  the  provinces  of  West  Prussia  and  Posen  and  even 
in  Silesia  is  impossible  without  the  breaking  up  and  de- 
composing of  Prussia." 

I  do  not  expect  the  extremity  of  such  a  peace,  but 
on  the  contrary  one  which  will  enable  my  people  to  ex- 
ploit Russia,  gradually  in  the  beginning,  but  ere  long 
almost  wholly. 

Trade  resumption  prospects  with  the  western  world 
are  alarming  and  the  outlook  would  indeed  be  black  for 
us  if  all  our  enemies  could  stand  as  a  unit  against  us 
in  commercial  matters  until  we  yielded  to  their  de- 
mands. But  this  is  a  practical  world  of  business  rivalry 
between  individuals  and  between  nations.  By  utilising 
\his  sufficiently  we  should  soon  have  our  present  enemies 
bidding  for  the  German  market  for  their  raw  materials. 

In  the  matter  of  peace  terms  each  side  can  make  an 
offer  which  the  people  of  the  other  side  would  insist 
be  accepted  by  their  leaders  rather  than  make  further 
sacrifices.  In  other  words  each  side  can  draw  a  line 
beyond  which  its  enemy  would  not  fight,  such  a  varying 
line  of  course  with  the  changing  phases  of  the  struggle. 
The  stronger  our  power  of  resistance  appears  to  the 
other  side  at  any  given  time  the  more  favourably  for 
ourselves  can  we  draw  this  line.  Had  we  not  forced 
the  United  States  into  the  war  we  could  have  set  a  much 
better  line  than  we  can  from  now  on  ever  hope  to  set. 


3i8  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

Of  our  mistakes  in  policy  tliat  has  been  by  far  our  great- 
est. We  made  it  because  in  1916  our  privations  had 
become  so  great  that  my  people  b^an  to  grow  dis- 
couraged and  troublesome  to  such  an  extent  that  a  gen- 
eral apprehension  arose  that  in  a  war  of  endurance  we 
could  not  last  as  long  as  our  western  enemies.  As  events 
have  since  transpired  we  see  that  from  our  position  in 
the  trough  of  the  waves  we  overestimated  the  height  of 
the  crest  upon  which  they  rode.  Though  we  knew  that 
Russia  was  growing  powerless  we  did  not  foresee  that 
she  would  fall  impotent  so  precipitately.  We  fur- 
ther did  not  realise  that  our  propaganda  was  gnawing 
so  deeply  into  France — as  evidenced  by  the  breakdown 
of  the  Craonne  offensive  in  191 Y.  We  were  also  sur- 
prised when  Britain's  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  con- 
fessed that  the  Allies  would  be  in  financial  difficulties 
were  it  not  for  America's  entry. 

But  greatest  of  all  we  did  not  remotely  realise  that 
America  could  be  a  factor  in  the  war.  To  antagonise 
her  was  our  supreme  blunder.  We  should  have  sent 
more  hymn  books  and  less  bombs.  Until  she  came  into 
the  war  Europe  was  divided  into  two  pieces  of  sand- 
paper, each  trying  to  wear  down  the  other.  Had  we 
been  less  sweeping  in  our  U-boat  decree  and  been  merely 
content  to  nibble  away  at  shipping  we  might  well  have 
convinced  our  enemies  that  they  were  rubbing  even 
more  off  themselves  than  off  us.  We  might  have  been 
the  best  bargainer  at  a  conference.  But  our  terrible 
mistake  has  resulted  in  the  rubbing  against  us  of  new 
and  heavier  sand-paper. 

Could  I  offer  enough  to  one  of  my  three  chief  enemies 
to  satisfy  her  into  an  unwillingness  to  continue  the 
struggle  I  should  be  pulling  the  prop  from  beneath  the 


THE  QUICKSANDS  319 

other  two.  Two  years  ago  it  was  an  axiomatic  illusion 
with  us  that  we  could  always  buy  Americans ;  to-day  we 
are  bewildered  at  the  realisation  that  America  is  more 
sweeping  in  her  demands  against  us  than  are  her  allies. 
There  is  nothing  we  can  offer  her,  for  she  wants  noth- 
ing save  a  change  in  our  political  ideals.  Such  a  change 
we  must  refuse  above  all  else,  for  it  would  toll  the 
death-knell  of  our  whole  system  and  the  kind  of  great- 
ness we  have  built  upon  it. 

For  more  than  four  years  France  has  felt  our  hand 
upon  her  throat.  From  the  very  beginning  the  war 
became  for  her  a  struggle  for  existence.  Her  losses 
have  been  enormous  and  her  strain  nerve-wracking. 
Suppose  that  the  French  should  wake  up  some  morn- 
ing to  read  that  we  had  made  a  genuine  offer  of  peace 
on  a  basis  of  status  quo  ante  as  it  existed  between  her 
and  us,  with  the  addition  of  a  willingness  to  submit 
Alsace  and  Lorraine  to  a  plebiscite  under  international 
supervision  of  the  voting  after  the  signing  of  peace. 
We  could  cleverly  agree  to  do  this  by  insisting  that 
other  nations  do  the  same — such  as  England  with  Ire- 
land, and  thereby  very  simply  we  could  create  argu- 
ments and  dissensions. 

In  the  meantime  we  should  inspire  our  various 
enemies  with  the  kind  of  propaganda  suited  to  their 
several  needs.  In  the  case  of  America  it  would  be 
well  to  bring  about  a  better  feeling  towards  us.  The 
Americans  are  a  sporting  people  who  admire  fair  play. 
If,  taking  care  not  to  overplay  our  hand,  we  should  treat 
American  prisoners  especially  well,  give  them  prompt 
facilities  for  writing  and  transmission  of  letters,  in- 
dulge in  airplane  courtesies  in  dropping  information  re- 
garding the  fate  of  their  flying  men  who  have  fallen  be- 


320   THE  EDGE  OF  THE  QUICKSANDS 

hind  our  lines,  show  kindness  to  seamen  intercepted  by 
our  TJ-boats,  and  so  on,  we  might  assuage  their  bitter 
feeling.  Regarding  England  and  France,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  should  show  no  weakness,  only  strength. 
France  has,  to  be  sure,  tied  up  enormous  sums  in  Rus- 
sia which  might  induce  her  to  continue  the  war  even  be- 
yond the  line  of  our  Western  peace  terms.  Yet  the  right 
kind  of  propaganda  might  inspire  the  masses  to  refuse 
to  fight  for  a  people  who  had  seemingly  betrayed  them. 
To  stop  bleeding  by  the  mere  acceptance  of  our  offer! 
What  a  temptation  for  France ! 

If  France  showed  a  desire  to  withdraw  on  this  basis 
the  war  spirit  in  the  United  States  would  suffer  a  se- 
rious relapse,  for  it  is  upon  France  that  the  superstruc- 
ture of  sentiment  has  been  reared.  The  backfire  from 
this  relapse  would  make  British  politics  seethe.  Both 
in  France  and  America  we  could  inflame  the  reply  to 
every  get-on-with-the-war  utterance  in  England  that 
England  wished  to  continue  the  war  from  purely  selfish 
methods  of  conquest.  This  would  not  be  true,  but  it 
would  probably  serve  our  purpose  to  the  extent  that  an 
anti-war  cabinet  would  come  into  power — a  cabinet  sup- 
Iported  in  part  by  some  of  the  privileged  class  of  heredi- 
tary landed  proprietors  who  are  fearful  lest  the  con- 
flict be  waged  to  a  stage  which  will  endanger  their 
ancient  rights. 

The  world  war  is  so  complex  that  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible to  forecast  the  linking  up  of  any  number  of  de- 
tails. The  insignificant  of  to-day  frequently  becomes 
the  colossal  of  to-morrow  and  upsets  all  calculations. 
But  in  the  matter  of  a  broad  line  of  policy  it  is  simple 
to  plan  a  course.  In  brief,  since  we  cannot  win  of- 
fensively, we  must  calmly  consider  how  long  we  can 


THE  QUICKSANDS  321 

endure  defensively.  'Next  we  must  convince  our  ene- 
mies of  the  enormous  price  they  must  pay  to  drive  ua 
back  by  force  of  arms.  Then  comes  our  bargaining, 
which  must  always  be  conducted  so  as  to  create  fric- 
tion. This  "can  be  done  to  some  extent  while  hostilities 
are  still  m  progress,  but  to  a  superlative  degree  if  I  can 
but  entice  my  enemies  to  a  peace  conference  while  I 
still  possess  great  bargaining  power. 

In  the  event  of  the  worst,  I  can  so  fall  back  that  I 
can  lure  my  enemies  to  the  edge  of  the  quicksands  be- 
hind which  I  have  taken  refuge — ^my  last  great  line  of 
defence,  the  line  upon  which  I  will  risk  my  all.  If  they 
decide  that  the  quickest  way  to  end  the  struggle  with  me 
is  the  short  route  through  the  sands  they  will  be  dragged 
down  into  premature  peace  and  leave  me  to  rebuild  my 
power. 

The  wondrous  hope  that  quickens  my  pulse  in  the  ap- 
proaching crisis  is  that  they  will  be  weary  of  the  long 
march  and  choose  the  nearest  way.  I  shall  tremble 
when  they  hesitate  for  if  they  decide  to  shut  their  teeth 
and  go  around  the  quicksands  my  sun  of  greatness  will 
have  set  For  if  my  enemies  but  resolve  to  stand  to- 
gether upon  the  basis  of  the  American  terms  and  use 
every  weapon  they  possess  the  Germany  of  the  future 
will  be  but  a  great  nation  among  a  number  of  great  na- 
tions and  not  the  most  powerful  and  awe-inspiring  em- 
pire that  the  world  has  ever  known. 


FINTS 


A     000  130  786     7 


